Fireworks are devices that explode into coloured light and noise in the night sky. A firework display, let off fireworks, the fireworks start at nine.
The plural is far commoner than the singular, and a firework display is the fixed phrase. In Britain the season is early November, around Bonfire Night, and in America the Fourth of July. The figurative use is common and vivid: there were fireworks at the meeting means there was a loud argument. Note sparkler, rocket and Catherine wheel, which are the named kinds, and that fireworks legislation exists in most countries because of the injuries.
1nounfireworksDevices that explode into coloured light and noise.
“The fireworks went on for about twenty minutes.”
2nounloudA loud argument or dramatic scene.
“There were fireworks at the meeting and no decision.”
fireworks is explosive displays.
The word is a straightforward compound of fire and work, translating similar compounds in German and Dutch. Gunpowder came to Europe from China, and so did the practice, but the English name was built at home from the two plainest possible words.
Middle High German
viurwerc
English, today
fireworks
From fire + work(s). The similarity with Dutch vuurwerk and German Feuerwerk, both “fireworks”, is hardly coincidental. Since the word was apparently first attested in English circa 1575, probably from the Dutch - (1540), from the German - (sense early 16th c.), from Middle High German viurwerc (14th c. as “fuel, firewood”). A spread from the south northwards is also in line with the fact that the first European fireworks were produced in Italy in the late 14th century.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA
Practised in Music, Art & Culture, Weddings & Celebrations