lighter fluid

noun

1

: the liquid in a lighter (such as a cigarette lighter) that is its fuel

2

: a liquid accelerant used especially to ignite charcoal briquettes for grilling food

The average back-yard chef, wishing to cook hamburgers, tries to ignite the charcoal via the Squirt, Light and Wait Method, wherein you squirt lighter fluid on a pile of briquettes, light the pile, then wait until they have turned a uniform grey.

—Dave Barry

Examples of lighter fluid in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

First off, there's an Automatic Fire Starter that can light your coals on fire with just the push of a button – no lighter fluid required. —New Atlas, 4 Feb. 2025

Hours before the carjacking, Torres-Garcia and Ocasio Justiniano were seen on video surveillance at a Seminole County gas station buying lighter fluid. —Martin E. Comas, Orlando Sentinel, 30 Jan. 2025

Bud Light may not have caused the backlash, but its brief 2023 ad partnership with a trans influencer poured lighter fluid on the right’s simmering resentments. —Allison Morrow, CNN, 25 Jan. 2025

On July 18, 2019, a Cheshire resident with property abutting Cuff Brook observed dead fish and discolored water with an oily sheen in the brook and smelled a chemical odor similar to lighter fluid, officials said. —Stephen Underwood, Hartford Courant, 18 Jan. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1922, in the meaning defined at sense 1