1. A large controlled outdoor fire, usually made from bales of straw or wood.
2. A social event that takes place near the mentioned fire.
The word is believed to be a corruption of "bone fire" deriving from a Celtic midsummer festival where animal bones were burnt to ward off evil spirits.
2. A social event that takes place near the mentioned fire.
The word is believed to be a corruption of "bone fire" deriving from a Celtic midsummer festival where animal bones were burnt to ward off evil spirits.
1. I helped my dad prepare a bonfire and i burned my new pants.
2. You should have been at Mike's bonfire last week, we got really drunk.
2. You should have been at Mike's bonfire last week, we got really drunk.
by Matek July 06, 2006
by hyphyyybitch September 12, 2009
An item or object that can be thrown into a bonfire for many different purposes such as: stoking a fire; making the fire different colors; playing with the fire; burning trash; and putting out the fire, among many other things.
by D Muhney April 29, 2010
by bLiTcH January 26, 2008
A place where you call up all your friends to express your inadequacies and bag on people better than yourself
Susie was sad she didn't get the job she didn't deserve and called up all her friends to a bonfire complain why she didn't get the job over the more qualified candidate.
by lostindenial1 August 01, 2010
“When I was younger and confronted with hardship, my grandpa used to tell me, he said, ‘Sometimes you’ve gotta put the broom in the bonfire.’ He was right.”
by Miss M C Bliss February 07, 2021
An old tradition of burning of any objects that are regarded as sinful or immoral, as if a bonfire fueled by the condemned objects would erase the social problems associated with them.
The most infamous of such bonfires took place on February 7, 1497. The extremist Catholic priest Girolamo Savonarola organized a great public burning in Florence, a burning of what he saw as the frivolities of the Medici reign, and in particular that of Lorenzo de' Medici, whom Savonarola blamed for decadence and immorality (which the zealous priest defined as any art that did not portray Jesus or anything Biblical; nudity and paganism in contemporary art irked his one-track mindset).
While prostitutes were beaten and gay men were burned alive on his orders, Savonarola's campaign centered on the burning of books, paintings, sculptures, cosmetics, wigs, fancy clothing, mirrors, jewelry, masks, playing cards, scripts of secular songs, musical instruments, anything that Savonarola deemed extravagant.
A "bonfire of the vanities" can be as a metaphor to refer to the censorship or ban on "controversial" materials.
The most infamous of such bonfires took place on February 7, 1497. The extremist Catholic priest Girolamo Savonarola organized a great public burning in Florence, a burning of what he saw as the frivolities of the Medici reign, and in particular that of Lorenzo de' Medici, whom Savonarola blamed for decadence and immorality (which the zealous priest defined as any art that did not portray Jesus or anything Biblical; nudity and paganism in contemporary art irked his one-track mindset).
While prostitutes were beaten and gay men were burned alive on his orders, Savonarola's campaign centered on the burning of books, paintings, sculptures, cosmetics, wigs, fancy clothing, mirrors, jewelry, masks, playing cards, scripts of secular songs, musical instruments, anything that Savonarola deemed extravagant.
A "bonfire of the vanities" can be as a metaphor to refer to the censorship or ban on "controversial" materials.
The Bonfire of the Vanities was the result of a moral panic provoked by an extremist monk who was horrified by the nudity and pagan/secular images that were appearing in art as well as the perceived extravagance of the Medici, the family who ruled Florence and who was leading this artistic Renaissance and who Savonarola blamed for the economic and social problems that were beginning to plague the city. Any art or literature that he deemed "immoral" had to go.
Eventually, Savonarola's campaign turned against him and he was executed, but his example of censorship is one to be remembered as that matter is discussed.
Eventually, Savonarola's campaign turned against him and he was executed, but his example of censorship is one to be remembered as that matter is discussed.
by Lorelili August 01, 2011