Dictionary

misfirer en · NOUN

Etymology

From misfire + -er.

Meanings

1. One who misfires.
   • Goethe is the great foundation figure; Byron and Shelley are the high-minded but incompetent misfirers; Carlyle, through an infection of international provincialism that crippled his genius, is the great but failed physician […] 1983, William Earl Buckler, Matthew Arnold's Prose: Three Essays in Literary Enlargement:
   • In terms of her sense of slippage, Valerie Solanas runs with the best of them. None of these terms stick, which is why she remains a chronic misfirer. 2017, Avital Ronell, Deviant Payback: The Aims of Valerie Solanas:
   • Next, you're looking for a sparkplug to put in the lead-off position. This is someone who will rev up the team with a mark right away. Watch out for the sputterer, the misfirer, or anyone who fuels up with a gallon of ethyl alcohol before frame one. 1987, Dawson Taylor, Gary Patterson, Spare me!: portrait of a bowling fanatic, page 56:

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