balefire

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balefire

(ˈbeɪlˌfaɪə)

1. a bonfire

2. a beacon fire

3. a funeral pyre

[C14 bale, from Old English bǣl pyre; related to Old Norse bāl flame, pyre, Sanskrit bhāla brightness]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

bale•fire

(ˈbeɪlˌfaɪ^ər)

n.

a large outdoor fire; bonfire.

[1400–50; late Middle English bal(e)fir, with Middle English bale bonfire < Old Norse bāl funeral pyre, c. Old English bǣl]

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Noun

balefire - a large outdoor fire that is lighted as a signal or in celebration

bonfire

fire - the event of something burning (often destructive); "they lost everything in the fire"

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References in classic literature ?

Nay, from the moment when we came down the old church-steps together, a married pair, I might have beheld the bale-fire of that scarlet letter blazing at the end of our path!"

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"Then began the warriors to awake upon the hill the mightiest of bale-fires. The wood smoke rose aloft, dark from the foe of wood.