smoke eater

smoke eater

1. A filtration device that removes smoke particles from the air, either by electronic or chemical means. I knew my girlfriend hated the way my apartment smelled because I smoked cigarettes indoors, so I decided to install a smoke eater so she'd be more inclined to come over.
2. dated slang A firefighter, especially before the use of compressed breathing apparatuses. I never knew my granddad. He was a fire eater in New York for nearly 30 years, and he died of emphysema when he was just 55 years old.
See also: eater, smoke
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

smoke eater

n. a firefighter. A couple of off-duty smoke eaters wandered around the store doing a little shopping.
See also: eater, smoke
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions
See also:
  • girlfriend
  • filter out
  • bad omen
  • be tight-lipped
  • Are you single?
  • so much so
  • resign
  • resign (oneself) to (something)
  • resign oneself to
  • resign to
References in periodicals archive
Perhaps the best known systems are those based upon the Electrostatic Principal s.uch as the well known Smoke Eater. Quite simply, the system works something akin to a magnet and iron filings.
Indoor air: what you can't see can hurt you?
Patrick Copeland, a 2004 graduate of Pleasant Hill, is currently a rookie defenseman for the Trail Smoke Eaters, a Junior `A' hockey club in the British Columbia Hockey League.
The Smoke Eaters are in a three-way tie for second place with the Vernon Vipers and Prince George Spruce Kings in the Interior Division.
In eight games played this year, the 5-foot-11, 205-pound Copeland has tallied two assists for the Smoke Eaters.
Ex-Irish players honored