- light a fire under someone
- mainly American informal
to make someone work harder
English dictionary. 2014.
light a fire under someone
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light a fire under someone — mainly american informal phrase to make someone work harder Thesaurus: to make someone work hardsynonym Main entry: light * * * I stimulate someone to work or act more quickly or enthusiastically … Useful english dictionary
light a fire under someone — light a fire under (someone) mainly American to make someone work better or harder. It s time you lit a fire under those guys or they ll never finish painting the house … New idioms dictionary
light a fire under — see ↑light, 3 • • • Main Entry: ↑fire light a fire under (someone) US informal : to cause (someone) to move or work more quickly and effectively I ve never seen him work so hard. Someone must have lit a fire under him. • • • … Useful english dictionary
light a fire under — (someone) mainly American to make someone work better or harder. It s time you lit a fire under those guys or they ll never finish painting the house … New idioms dictionary
light a fire under — verb To motivate or encourage (someone) to start sooner or move faster. Let me see if I can light a fire under the waiter to get our order sooner … Wiktionary
light a fire under — v. urge someone to move faster, encourage a person to begin sooner … English contemporary dictionary
light — light1 [ laıt ] noun *** 1. ) uncount brightness from the sun or from a light, which allows you to see things: The room gets a lot of light in the afternoons. light shines: Light from the street lamps was shining through a gap in the curtains. a… … Usage of the words and phrases in modern English
light — I UK [laɪt] / US noun Word forms light : singular light plural lights *** 1) [uncountable] brightness from the sun or from a light, which allows you to see things The room gets a lot of light in the afternoons. light shines: Light from the street … English dictionary
fire — 1 noun 1 BURNING (U) the flames, light and heat produced when something burns: The warehouse was completely destroyed by fire. | be on fire (=be burning): The house is on fire! | catch fire/catch on fire (=start to burn): Mary knocked the candle… … Longman dictionary of contemporary English
fire — fire1 W1S1 [faıə US faır] n ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ 1¦(flames that destroy things)¦ 2¦(flames for heating/cooking etc)¦ 3¦(heating equipment)¦ 4¦(shooting)¦ 5¦(be attacked)¦ 6¦(emotion)¦ 7 fire in your belly 8¦(sick/injured)¦ 9 light a fire under somebody … Dictionary of contemporary English
