coals of fire

coals of fire

See heap coals of fire.
See also: coal, fire, of
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer
See also:
  • no smoke, no fire
  • ASAP
  • live and well
  • maid of all work
  • take under one's wing
  • haven't
  • don't know from Adam
  • sublime to the ridiculous
  • shut the stable door
  • beat one's head against the wall, to
References in classic literature
The other was a great Tiger with purple stripes around his lithe body, powerful limbs, and eyes that showed through the half closed lids like coals of fire. The huge forms of these monarchs of the forest and jungle were enough to strike terror to the stoutest heart, and it is no wonder Jim was afraid to face them.
Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz
I felt impatient of him and out of temper with him; in which condition he heaped coals of fire on my head.
Great Expectations
Of the black man nothing could be seen but his eyes, two coals of fire. All the rest was hat and cloak.
Notre Dame de Paris
He drank it greedily, but muttered, as I took away the glass, - 'I suppose you're heaping coals of fire on my head, you think?'
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
But, the confiding young man proceeded to heap coals of fire on his sensitive head.
Our Mutual Friend
'He shuns me,' said Sampson, 'even when I would, as I may say, heap coals of fire upon his head.
The Old Curiosity Shop
"He will be missed, especially his humor, which he used adroitly to diffuse difficult situations, but also to heap coals of fire on fools," said his colleague on the Education Committee, Representative Duncan Kilmartin (R).
Vermont representative Greg Clark
* SIR - I fail to see why Dafydd Elis-Thomas' suggestion for the abolition of the office of Secretary of State for Wales should have caused the Tories and Labour to heap coals of fire on his head.
Tories never wanted a Welsh Secretary; YOUR LETTERS TO THE NATIONAL NEWSPAPER OF WALES