ENGLISH
REFERENCE

fire away

phr. v..
B2 Upper Intermediate Oxford Informal

phr. v.. you say this to tell someone they can start asking you questions or talking.

phr. v.. an imperative used to grant permission for a speaker to begin an inquiry or provide information; often used in professional or instructional settings to invite questions.


SIMPLE

If you have any questions, just fire away.

CONTEXTUAL

The manager sat down, looked at the team, and said, 'I know you're curious about the changes, so fire away.'

COMPLEX

Once the presentation concluded, the floor was opened to the journalists, who were encouraged to fire away with their most pressing inquiries.

Particles
away
Separability
inseparable
Pattern
fire + away
Usage

almost always used in the imperative form to encourage another person to speak.

Teaching tip

the metaphor comes from discharging a weapon; it implies a rapid or direct series of questions, making it a great way to introduce 'shooting' metaphors in conversation.

Pitfall

He fired away the question.He fired off the question.'fire away' is usually intransitive and used as a command; if you want to use an object, 'fire off' is the correct phrasal verb.

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