English, baby!

light a fire under someone

Date: Jan 06 2011

Quote

1. Quote - Listen to the quote and guess what the slang means.

“Music lights a fire under me. When I hear other people, I want to be better than them.”

- Killers singer Brandon Flowers on what drives him to succeed. (Spin)

Definition

1. Definition - Study the definition.

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motivate, inspire

2. Use - Learn how the slang is used.

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Nothing gets people to move like a fire. If something catches fire, people want to get away from it as quickly as they can.

A fire in your building is scary. But a fire under you can be helpful. To light a fire under someone means to motivate or inspire them to do something.

You can light a fire under someone by saying encouraging things to them. You can also light a fire under someone by offering a reward if they do well or a punishment if they fail.

Kanye, Ludicrous and Guns N’ Roses all released albums on the same day as Brandon Flowers’ band, The Killers. But Flowers says it didn’t scare him. It lit a fire under him and motivated him to make a better album.

What lights a fire under you?

Examples

1. Examples - Hear some example sentences.

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“I hope that getting this gym membership will light a fire under me and I’ll start exercising a lot.”

“The company offers prizes to light a fire under their sales staff.”

“After they lost the game, the coach gave a speech to light a fire under the team and inspire them to practice harder.”

Winners

1. Winners - See who guessed the slang definition correctly.

	inspire, make better, by Liudes
	motivates,gives inspiration by bienemaja
	feel motivated toward doing something by Manu4
	It's an incitement to do more. In russian i say to add fuel to the flame. by bulenka
	urge to do something better by Bitten by an Arab bug
	to urge by Gaby313
	Inspires me. by Moses10
	motivate me by MAjEsTiC

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Comments

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Marcelolic

Brazil

What’s light fire me? Hummm I guess everything that be poitive ;)

lenny80a

Germany

Being good at English languages light a fire under me, it make me to be better.

Therefore the feedback from my supportive teachers lit a fire under me.

This is a very useful slang for me.

daynong

Iran, Islamic Republic Of

it's nice idiom

actually you know it can inspire or encourage

suresh_123

India

When we start a light fire under the hear, then only we can acheive out target

cococheng

Taiwan

Self-expextation and family's love are critical to keep me move forward. When I feel frustrated, my family always give me a big hug to light a fire under me.

Jasmine89

China

to motivate or inspire someone by saying some encouring words or performing some inspiring movements.

tiger_bagira

Greece

nice

gokuh

India

i will light a fire under me, do sth bettter than others do,,,,,,

tomatina

Egypt

my continuous cynicism is pushing me to get sarcastic on this piece of idiom,but I know I'll get hailed with harsh rants..I'll just save whatever dignity left in me and say,you all can burn me up, flare the way, set this place on blazes,and light a fire under me to show me the way out of this tiff!

emirata

Turkey

ı am a professıoanl absketball player and ı had a lot of match and sometımes ı lost some of them but ı never gıvep up playıg basketball coz always ı have some people who lıght a fıre under me and my team thx englishbaby