Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun The management and mechanical application of fire.
- noun The fabrication of fireworks for military and ornamental purposes (see
firework , 2); the composition and scientific use of combustible substances employed as signals, as destructive agents, or for purposes of display.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun obsolete The use and application of fire in science and the arts.
- noun Same as
Pyrotechnics .
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun The
manufacture and use offireworks . - noun The use of
fire inchemistry andmetallurgy . - noun obsolete The manufacture and use of
gunpowder ,bombs etc.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun the craft of making fireworks
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
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Examples
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Is it not as if one should have, through majestic powers of science, the comets given into his hand, or the planets and their moons, and should draw them from their orbits to glare with the municipal fireworks on a holiday night, and advertise in all towns, “Very superior pyrotechny this evening”?
Representative Men 2006
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It is decomposed by heat, and is largely used in pyrotechny for the preparation of green fire.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 3, Part 1, Slice 3 "Banks" to "Bassoon" Various
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His lyre was attuned to reach the ear rather than the heart; his scenes are in enchanted lands; his _dramatis personæ_ tread theatrical boards; his thunder is a melo-dramatic roll; his lightning is pyrotechny; his tears are either hypocritical or maudlin; and his laughter is the perfection of genteel comedy.
English Literature, Considered as an Interpreter of English History Designed as a Manual of Instruction Henry Coppee
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The efficiency of a given course of training is indicated by the power and endurance which it imparts, -- not by such pyrotechny as may be let off before an examining committee.
The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 13, No. 77, March, 1864 Various
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No! be assured that we know as little about politics as pyrotechny -- that we are as blissfully ignorant of all that relates to the science of government as that of gastronomy -- and have ever since our boyhood preferred the solid consistency of gingerbread to the crisp insipidity of parliament.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 1, November 6, 1841, Various
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And strangest of all, at the final puff and bang of each remarkable piece of pyrotechny, the bells ring out just the same sudden clang which marks the agonizing moment of the
The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 06, No. 37, November, 1860 Various
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Having seen Venetian pyrotechny, one realizes that all fireworks should be ignited over water.
A Wanderer in Venice Harry [Illustrator] Morley 1903
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The carousals of the army and navy lasted for three days, at the new Doge's cost, the resources of the fleet having no difficulty in running to every kind of pageantry and pyrotechny.
A Wanderer in Venice Harry [Illustrator] Morley 1903
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Sick and giddy, the heroine shut her eyes, seeing behind their lids wondrous phantasmagoria of coloured pyrotechny, rivalling the most marvellous triumphs of the magician Brock ....
The Dop Doctor Richard Dehan 1897
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As this subject, however interesting to the theoretical pyrotechnist, cannot be understood without a knowledge of chemistry, it is obvious that that science is a powerful aid to pyrotechny ....
James Cutbush An American Chemist, 1788-1823 Edgar Fahs Smith 1891
chained_bear commented on the word pyrotechny
"the doctrine of artificial fire-works and fire-arms, teaching the structure and service of all those used in war." (citation in list description)
October 9, 2008
mollusque commented on the word pyrotechny
The combination of those ingredients resulted in a dazzling pyrotechny of sense . . .
--Vladimir Nabokov, 1974, Look at the Harlequins! p. 250
June 13, 2009
qms commented on the word pyrotechny
At mid-day they pander abjectly;
By twilight they cry out "elect me!"
But shrill pleas are drowned
By sight and the sound
Of Fourth of July pyrotechny.
July 4, 2016