fired

1. 1
   verb

   Simple past and past participle of fire.

   The clay pots were fired in a kiln overnight.

   She fired off an angry email before lunch.

   Note

   One regular -ed form serves every meaning of the verb, and that is where the trouble lies. "The pots were fired," "the gun was fired" and "the manager was fired" share an identical passive, so only the subject separates kiln, trigger and dismissal. Two of these uses have settled into adjectives: the kiln-hardened sense and the dismissed sense, as in fired clay or a fired employee.

2. 2
   adjective

   Removed or dismissed from a job by an employer; no longer employed there.

   The fired executives still received generous severance packages.

   Newly fired and angry, she filed a complaint with HR.

   Similardismissed, sacked, terminated, axed

   Oppositeemployed

3. 3
   adjective

   Heated in a furnace or kiln until permanently hardened.

   The fired tiles were cool enough to handle by morning.

   Artisans glaze the fired vessels carefully before adding decoration.

   Similarbaked

   Oppositeunfired, raw

   Note

   A potter's and engineer's word for the change heat makes, not the heat itself. Firing drives off moisture and pushes the body toward sintering or vitrification. The result is dimensionally stable and keeps its shape for good. It usually stands before the noun (fired clay, fired tiles) and comes from the verb's sense of heating without burning. Only the spelling links it to job loss.

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