firing

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun The process of applying fire or heat, as in the hardening or glazing of ceramics.
• noun Fuel for fires.
• noun The act or an instance of dismissing someone from a job.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun Same as scorching, 3: applied especially to tobacco and corn.
• noun The act of applying fire or of making a fire for any purpose; specifically, the method of treating a furnace with regard to the use of fuel: as, hard firing (supplying fuel frequently and urging the fire); light firing (moderate supplies of fuel at frequent intervals); steady firing; heavy firing.
• noun Fuel; fire-wood or coal.
• noun The exposing of any material to high temperatures to burn, bake, etc.: as, the firing of painted glass to fix the colors; the firing of porcelain to melt and fix the glaze.
• noun The act of discharging firearms.
• noun The application of fire or of a cautery in surgery and farriery; cauterization.
• noun In bell-ringing, the ringing of all the bells in a peal at once. It is practised in England on occasions of general rejoicing or mourning. In the latter case the bells are muffled.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun The act of discharging firearms.
• noun The mode of introducing fuel into the furnace and working it.
• noun The application of fire, or of a cautery.
• noun The process of partly vitrifying pottery by exposing it to intense heat in a kiln.
• noun obsolete Fuel; firewood or coal.
• noun an instrument used in cauterizing.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun The process of applying heat or fire, especially to clay etc to produce pottery.
• noun The fuel for a fire.
• noun The discharge of a gun or other weapon.
• noun The dismissal of someone from a job.
• verb Present participle of fire.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun the act of setting something on fire
• noun the act of discharging a gun
• noun the act of firing weapons or artillery at an enemy
• noun the termination of someone's employment (leaving them free to depart)