Light a fire under
Also, build a fire under. Urge or goad to action, as in If we don’t light a fire under that committee, they’ll never do any work. This hyperbolic colloquialism uses light in the sense of “ignite,” a usage dating from the mid-1100s.
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- Light-air
noun, Meteorology. 1. a wind of 1–3 miles per hour (0.5–1.3 m/sec). noun 1. very light air movement of force one on the Beaufort scale
- Light-and-shade-surface
noun 1. . noun 1. (in architectural shades and shadows) a surface in a plane tangent to the parallel rays from the theoretical light source, treated as a shade surface.
- Light-armed
[lahyt-ahrmd] /ˈlaɪtˈɑrmd/ adjective 1. carrying light weapons: light-armed troops.
- Light-armored-vehicle
noun 1. an eight-wheeled armored reconnaissance car with a 25mm cannon, in service with the U.S. Army and Marine Corps in the 1980s.
- Light-artillery
noun, Military. 1. guns and howitzers of small caliber. 2. (in the U.S.) guns and howitzers of a caliber up to and including 105 mm. Compare (def 2), .