Definition of "spitfire" [spit•fire]

• A quick-tempered or highly excitable person. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Through a review of Army reports and the memories of a fellow POW tracked down in New Jersey, The Associated Press was able to reconstruct the conditions under which the young man — called a "spitfire" and the "life of the party" — starved to death in a prisoner of war camp."
• "You know, Elizabeth Edwards has been described as a spitfire, highly educated."
• "Truth and honesty: Betty was known as a spitfire from her first breath."