Definition of "take fire" [take fire]

• Start to burn or burst into flames (verb)

WordNet. Princeton University. 2010.

• "And because there was danger that the REDOUBTABLE might take fire from the lower-deck guns, the muzzles of which touched her side when they were run out, the fireman of each gun stood ready with a bucket of water; which, as soon as the gun was discharged, he dashed into the hole made by the shot."
• "She did not take fire from Romeo's speeches, although how she could fail was beyond Helva's comprehension."
• "Page 135 under the spell of the Boston aluminados of 1885, which is as if one were to take fire from a June-bug."