Daily entries from the 17th century London diary
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Scar-fire or scarefire. An alarm of fire. One of the little pieces in Herrick’s “Hesperides” is entitled “The Scar-fire,” but the word sometimes was used, as in the text, for the fire itself. Fuller, in his “Worthies,” speaks of quenching scare-fires.
THE SCARE-FIRE.
by Robert Herrick
WATER, water I desire,
Here’s a house of flesh on fire ;
Ope the fountains and the springs,
And come all to bucketings :
What ye cannot quench pull down ;
Spoil a house to save a town :
Better ‘tis that one should fall,
Than by one to hazard all.
Scarefire:
(n.) An alarm of fire.
(n.) A fire causing alarm.
http://websters.wunderdictionary.com/dictionary/def/english/scarefire.html
Companion’s Large Glossary:
sudden conflagration