fire-breathing

• fire breathing, firebreathing

From fire +‎ breathing.

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fire-breathing (not comparable)

1. (of a fabled animal, such as a dragon) That expels fire from the mouth and nostrils.

   a fire-breathing dragon

   • 1632, Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy, Oxford: Henry Cryps, page 548:

     Medea for the loue of Iaſon, taught him how to tame the fire breathing braſſ feeted Bulls, and kill the mighty dragon that kept the golden fleece[.]

   • 1961, Norma Lorre Goodrich, “Beowulf”, in The Medieval Myths, New York: The New American Library, page 42:

     No man could shake a finger at Beowulf. All the days of his life he had sought the path of right, escaped traps, killed foes, and ruled fairly. Now it was time for him to stand up to the fire-breathing worm.

   • 1999, Seamus Heaney, Beowulf, London: Faber and Faber, page 84:

     Then the bane of that people, the fire-breathing dragon,
     was mad to attack for a third time.

2. (literary) That emits or belches forth fire.
   • 1706, Charles Johnson, Ramelies: A Poem, London: Ben Bragg, page 8:

     The deadly fire-breathing Cannon roar,
     Sending destructive Heralds thro' the Field.

3. (idiomatic) caustic, vitriolic or scathing.

   a fire-breathing rant