Vast and varied word - and I love the OED's tortuous phrasing of its first definition:
"The natural agency or active principle operative in combustion; popularly conceived as a substance visible in the form of flame or of ruddy glow or incandescence."
Many similar words in old english/germanic languages. Range of more prosaic meanings - from the flame itself, to the engulfing blaze across and entire city. Also lots of figurative meanings listed and evolving relatively early on. Including "Luminosity or glowing appearance resembling that of fire" particularly of the eyes, and from Shakespeare forward.
As well as the fire of illness or disease, and love or hate (both also often termed illness - here are links to two examples for love: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G11gwgji8Dc Tim Minchin and http://www.william-shakespeare.info/william-shakespeare-sonnet-147.htm
But I'm getting rather of the topic. I adore a 17th century usage of the word - a town of fifteen thousand fires. With storytelling we - especially in the UK where porches do not have a role in our world except as awkward little things by the front door where you stick your umbrella, milk bottle and the gas meter cupboard - evoke the hearth as both a human centre and a story centre. So I like a description of homes counted by fires...
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