Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(a) to begin, to get ready; to prepare for action.

1840		Knickerbocker (N.Y.) XVI 227: [At an auction] Come, gentlemen, ‘fire up, fire up!’.
1843		Knickerbocker (N.Y.) XXI 13: At the end of the third day, we came to the unanimous conclusion that it was high time to ‘fire up’ and depart.
1868		Tarboro’ Southerner (NC) 28 May 4/2: When the mischief was to pay [...] he did not stop to complain about it, but instantly gave the order to ‘fire up’.
1892		F. Remington letter 14 Oct. in Splete (1988) 208: Fire up [...] let your imagination play.
1990		(con. early 1950s) J. Ellroy L.A. Confidential 30: The jail noise stopped, fired up, stopped, started.
1996		Penguin Bk of More Aus. Jokes 230: By the end of the day everything’s been covered, he’s been fired up with a horse, a saddle and a bunk and he’s looking forward to his first full day.

(b) to start up a mechanical device, e.g. a car.

1954		Mansell & Hall ‘Hot Rod Terms’ AS XXIX:2 96: fire up, v.t. To start (an engine).
1962		T. Berger Reinhart in Love (1963) 176: He quickly fired up the Chevy’s engine.
1981		J. Wambaugh Glitter Dome (1982) 85: Before the Weasel got the Toyota fired up and pointed in the right direction the Mercedes was already out of sight.
1997		C. Newland Scholar 44: Garvey started firing up his Nintendo.
2001		N. Green Shooting Dr. Jack (2002) 220: Come on, baby, fire this pig [car] up.
2011		J.J. DeCeglie Drawing Dead [ebook] I fired up the computer.
2018		C. Hammer Scrublands [ebook] He fires up the laptop.

(a) to become emotional, angry.

1877		J. Greenwood Dick Temple III 240: She fired up in a way that to me was surprising [...] I never saw her show such a spirit.
1894		Mirror of Life 1 Sept. 6/4: Is not the woman who fires up the quickest that makes the best match.
c.1905		J. Furphy Rigby’s Romance (1921) Ch. xiv: 🌐 ‘Do the other (adj.) thing, then,’ says I, gammonin’ to fire up.

(b) to anger, to arouse emotionally.

1907		S.E. White Arizona Nights 40: But I fired up. ‘You darn ungrateful pup,’ I said.
1983		R. Klein Jailhouse Jargon and Street Sl. [unpub. ms.].
1990		Tupper & Wortley Aus. Prison Sl. Gloss. 🌐 Fire up. Prepare for an argument.

(c) to excite in general; usu. as fired up adj. (3)

(d) (US campus) to drink with the intention of boosting one’s spirits.

1971

Current Sl. V:4.

(e) (orig. US black/campus) to excite sexually; to have sexual intercourse.

1980		L. Birnbach Official Preppie Hbk 219: Fire up, v. To engage in sexual relations.
1983		R. Klein Jailhouse Jargon and Street Sl. [unpub. ms.].

(f) (US campus) to get excited, to dedicate oneself; to be happy.

1989

P. Munro Sl. U. 79: We really have to fire up for this event if it is going to be a successful fund-raiser.

(a) to light a pipe, cigarette or cigar.

1914		Omaha Dly Bee (NE) 22 Feb. n.p.: Just rolls in a jiffy. Before you know it you’re firing up!
1937–84		Partridge DSUE (1984) 394/1: from ca. 1890.
1951		R. Starnes Grant’s Tomb 78: I shook my head and fired up a Camel.
1966		T.V. Olsen Hard Men (1974) 121: He ate unhurriedly and fired up his pipe.
1968–70		Current Sl. III–IV (Cumulation Issue).
1975		J. Wambaugh Choirboys (1976) 239: Scuz fired up a fresh cigar.
1985		A. Payne ‘Minder on the Orient Express’ in Minder [TV script] 5: First panatella of the day fired up.
1991		L. Bing Do or Die (1992) 216: Come on, Blood, don’t be firing that thing [i.e a cigarette] up in the house.
1998		A. Warner Sopranos 72: She fired up one of Manda’s Camels.
2000		G. Pelecanos Shame the Devil 128: Detective Dan Boyle fired up a cigarette off the dash lighter.
2012		G. Pelecanos (con. 1972) What It Was 59: She produced a number and fired it up.
2014		T. Black Artefacts of the Dead [ebook] You hold onto that fag, doll [...] I’ll fire up a new one for myself .

(b) (drugs) by ext., to pump the blood and heroin mixture out of the hypodermic into the vein or muscle, to inject a narcotic.

1983		R. Klein Jailhouse Jargon and Street Sl. [unpub. ms.].
1991		D. Simon Homicide (1993) 279: Where the fuck did you fire up? I don’t have all fucking day to look at your fucking arms.
2008		Simon & Zorzi ‘Unconfirmed Reports’ Wire ser. 5 ep. 2 [TV script] He fires up a speedball and then blacks out.

(c) to light a marijuana cigarette or pipe.

1962		(con. 1940s) H. Simmons Man Walking On Eggshells 166: Jerome handed over another joint. Raymond fired up.
1972		B. Rodgers Queens’ Vernacular.
1973		E. Bunker No Beast So Fierce 289: I nonchalantly took out a joint of marijuana [...] ‘Here . . . fire this up,’ I said.
1980		E. Folb Runnin’ Down Some Lines 171: Roll you some righteous bombers! Fire up, pass around.
1997		J. Birmingham Tasmanian Babes Fiasco (1998) 220: As Elroy put it while firing up a foot long doobie, ‘Yeah! Stupid yuppies.’.
2000		W. Shaw Westsiders 163: You figure they’ll mind if I fire up a blunt in here?
2020		C. Hiaasen Squeeze Me 284: He took the bong out of a drawer [...] She declined but encouraged him to fire up.

(d) (also fire) to heat up crack cocaine or methamphetamine.

1992		R. Price Clockers 67: Their faces flaring up yellow as they fired up the cocaine.
1998		L. Stringer Grand Central Winter (1999) 245: Firing up our pipes, and getting that first rush.
2001		J. Stahl Plainclothes Naked (2002) 186: Mac had a feeling it was pipe residue, not the pallid nugget he’d fired up.
2011		F. Bill ‘Amphetamine Twitch’ in Crimes in Southern Indiana [ebook] The only thing that felt real was firing the chemical and letting that jolt of electricity smoke his mind.