Forms: 3–8 firr, 4 fer, south. ve(e)r, 4–5 fyr(re, south. vyrre, 4–7 firre, (6 fire, 7 fyre), 7 fur, 4– fir. [ME. firr, firre, perh. repr. OE. *fyre or ON. fyri- in combs. fyriskógr fir-wood, etc.; cf. Da. fyr):—OTeut. *furhjôn- f. *furhâ, forhâ, whence OE. furh(wudu), OHG. forha (MHG. vorhe, Ger. föhre), ON., Norw., Sw. fura. For the formation cf. BEECH, OE. béce:—*bôkjôn f. bôkâ (Ger. buche).
A form differing in ablaut-grade is OHG. vereh-eih (rare early mod.Ger. ferch), Lombard fereha, all denoting a kind of oak (L. æsculus). The L. quercus oak is doubtless cognate.]
1. The name given to a number of coniferous trees, of different genera. Scotch Fir (Pinus sylvestris), a native of Arctic Europe and Asia; perhaps indigenous in a few spots of northern Britain; called also Scotch Pine. Silver Fir (Abies pectinata), a native of the mountainous parts of middle and southern Europe; so called from its whiteness under the leaves. Silver Fir of Canada (Abies balsamea), a small tree which furnishes ‘Canada balsam.’ Spruce Fir (Picea excelsa), a native of northern and mountainous central Europe; called also Norway Spruce.
(The first quot. is doubtful: the word may be FAR.)
a. 1300. Cursor M., 11501 (Gött.). [Rekels] … es a gum þat cummes of firr.
c. 1381. Chaucer, Parl. Foules, 176.
| The bilder ook, and eek the hardy asshe; | |
| The piler elm, the cofre unto careyne; | |
| The boxtree piper; holm to whippes lasshe; | |
| The sayling firr; the cipres, deth to pleyne. |
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVII. iv. (Tollem. MS). Veer [1535, Fer] is a tre þat streccheþ in lengþe upwarde.
a. 1490. Botoner, Itin. (1778), 175. Arbores et mastys de vyrre cum anchoris jacent.
1530. Palsgr., 220/2. Fyrre a tree, sappin.
1590. Spenser, F. Q., I. i. 9.
| The Laurell, meed of mightie conquerours | |
| And poets sage; the Firre that weepeth still: | |
| The Willow, worn of forlorne paramours. |
1624. Capt. Smith, Virginia, I. 19. The water gushing forth downe the rocky clifts in many places, which are all overgrown with Firre, Birch, Beech, and Oke.
1713. C’tess Winchelsea, Miscellany Poems, 188.
| The silver Firr dotes on the stately Pine; | |
| By Love those Elms, by Love those Beeches join. |
1777. Hunter, in Phil. Trans., LXVIII. 47. Spruce fir, Scotch fir, Silver fir, Weymouth fir.
1794. Martyn, Rousseau’s Bot., xxviii. 446. Silver Fir is so named from the whiteness of the leaves underneath; they are emarginate, and in shape much resemble those of the Yew: a great deal of turpentine is made from this.
1846. J. Baxter, Libr. Pract. Agric., I. 267. ‘As a nurse’ says M‘Intosh, ‘no other tree equals the Scotch fir; and like the larch, it will become a large and valuable timber-tree, in soils and situations where no other tree will at all succeed.’
1877. Bryant, Odyss., V. 289.
| Where lofty trees, alders and poplars, stood, | |
| And firs that reach the clouds, sapless and dry | |
| Long since, and fitter thus to ride the waves. |
2. The wood of any of these trees. Fir-in-bond, ‘a name given to lintels, bond-timbers, wall-plates, and indeed all timbers built in walls’ (1846, Buchanan, Technol. Dict.).
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVII. cxxi. (1495), 684. The ver rotyth anone vnder erthe.
1611. Bible, 1 Kings vi. 15. Hee couered them on the inside with wood, and couered the floore of the house with plankes of firre.
1677. Yarranton, Engl. Improv., 69. It’s impossible but upon the breaking out of Fire the greatest part of the Cities would be destroyed; for that many Cities are built of Fir, which is very full of Turpentine.
1823. P. Nicholson, Pract. Build., 261. The fir which is mostly used in carpentry is distinguished by the name of Memel Fir, and includes that of Dantzic and Riga.
b. Sc. = candle-fir: see CANDLE sb. 7.
1813. W. Beattie, Entertain. & Instruct. Tales, I. 31.
| An’ little Pate sits i’ the nook, | |
| An’ but-a-house dare hardly look, | |
| But had, and snuff the fir. |
3. attrib. and Comb. a. simple attrib.: (sense 1), as fir-bark, -clump, -cone (hence fir-coning, nonce-wd.), -green, -plantation, -seed, -top, -wood; (sense 2), as fir-lathing, -plank, -pole, -timber; b. instrumental or parasynthetic, as fir-bordered, -built, -scented, -topped adjs.
1842. Mrs. Norton, The Dream, 1.
| ’Twas summer eve; the changeful beams still play’d | |
| On the *fir-bark and through the beechen shade. |
1891. Daily News, 7 Sept., 2/1. Along the *fir-bordered road.
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., *Fir-built, constructed of fir.
1842. Faber, Styrian Lake, 356.
| A richly wooded park, | |
| Where groupes of birch with silver stems | |
| Rise up, like spectres of white gems, | |
| Among the *fir-clumps dark. |
1818. Keats, Endym., I. 255.
| The while they pelt each other on the crown | |
| With silvery oak-apples, and *fir-cones brown. |
1819. Miss Mitford, in L’Estrange, Life (1870), II. 56. I like it [reading] better than any of my play-works—better than *fir-coning—better than violeting.
1884. Girl’s Own Paper, 29 Nov., 136/1. The newest greens are called cresson and *‘fir-green.’
1884. Health Exhib. Catal., 84/1. Webbing made of reed and used in substitution of *fir-lathing.
1855. H. Clarke, Dict., *Fir-plank, deal.
1824. Miss Mitford, Village, Ser. I. (1863), 61. The dark verdure of the *fir-plantations, hanging over the picturesque and unequal paling, partly covered with moss and ivy.
1703. Moxon, Mech. Exerc., 177. The Pole is commonly made of a *Fir-pole.
1823. P. Nicholson, Pract. Build., 223. Fir Poles.—Small trunks of fir-trees, from ten to sixteen feet in length, used in rustic buildings and out-houses.
1880. Ouida, Moths, II. xx. 384. He was thinking of green, cool, dusky, *fir-scented Ischl.
1664. Evelyn, Kal. Hort. (1729), 196. Sow Pine-kernels, *Fir-seeds, Bays, Alaternus, Phillyrea, and most perennial Greens, &c.
1838. Skyring’s Builders’ Prices, 62. Memel and all other *fir timbers.
1855. Kingsley, Heroes, II. 212. Over his head, upon the *fir-tops hung the bones of murdered men.
1886. Pall Mall G., 28 Aug., 3/2. The *fir-topped hill that shuts out the view of the lake.
c. 1540. Leland, Itin., VII. (1744), 22. Ther be founde in Morisch and Mossy Grounde … *Fyr-woodde Rootes.
1611. Bible, 2 Sam. vi. 5. And Dauid and all the house of Israel played before the LORD on all manner of instruments made of Firre-wood.
1877. Black, Green Past., ii. (1878), 12. Beyond that distant line of firwood on the horizon her imagination seldom cared to stray.
4. Special comb.: as fir-apple, -ball, the fruit of the fir-tree; a fir-cone; † fir-beech, the lime or linden tree (L. tilia); fir-bob = fir-apple; fir-brush (see quot.); fir-candle = FIR 2 b; fir-cedar (see quot.); fir club-moss = fir-moss; fir-deal, a deal or plank of fir; also, fir-wood cut in planks; fir-marigold (see quot.); fir-moss (see quot.); fir-needle (see quot.); fir-pine = 1; fir-rape, a parasitic plant on roots of fir and beech (Hypopithys multiflora); fir-spell dial. = FIR 2 b (in quot. referring to fir-roots so used). Also FIR-TREE.
1712. J. James, trans. Le Blond’s Gardening, 147. It [the Fir-Tree] bears a scaly Fruit of a pyramidal Figure, call’d the *Fir-Apple, which contains the Seed.
1878. Britten & Holland, Plant-n. 184. Fir Apple … *Fir Balls … *Fir-bob.
1577. B. Googe, Heresbach’s Husb., II. (1586), 101 b. The Fyrre, the Oke, the Chestnutte, the *Fyrrebeeche.
1879. Miss Jackson, Shropsh. Word-bk., *Fir-brushes, the needle-foliage of fir trees.
1601. Holland, Pliny, II. 179. The great Cedar, called by the Greeks Cedrelate, as one would say, the *Fir-Cedre, yeeldeth a certain pitch or parrosin named Cedria.
1855. Miss Pratt, Ferns, 138. Order Lycopodiaceæ, L. Selago (*Fir Club-moss, Upright Fir-moss).
1450, 1558, 1604, 1618. *Fir-deal [see DEAL sb.3 1, 1 b].
1834. T. Pringle, African Sketches, ix. 308. The *fir-marigold [mesembryanthemum] was expanding its radiated crowns over thousands of acres.
1879. Prior, Plant-n., 80. *Fir-moss, a mossy looking plant like a little fir-tree, Lycopodium Selago.
1883. Hampsh. Gloss., *Fir-needles, the leaves of the Scotch Fir.
1843. Marryat, M. Violet, xxxv. 290. The *fir-pines, succeeding to the maple, told us that we had reached the highest point of the hills.
1861. Miss Pratt, Flower. Pl., III. 384. Order Monotropeæ … (Yellow Bird’s-nest) … called also *Fir-rape.
1884. Evangelical Mag., Feb., 60. The Fir-Rape … grows at the foot of beech and fir trees.
1697. Phil. Trans., XIX. 382. Examine the *Fir-spells, as they call them, who are brought up the River Ouse by the Turff-men and sold at York.
