#flint and steel
- Fire steel — A small piece of hardened steel, varying in shape, historically used in households to strike sparks from a flint stone in order to ignite tinder or tinderbox sulfur. Figuratively, regionally, or archaically, the term can describe a mechanical support or an iron hook used in traditional wagons.
- Fire steel — A small steel tool, often curved in the shape of a link or blade, used in the past, by striking it against a piece of flint (cremene), to produce sparks capable of igniting tinder or cotton. In an archaic and ethnographic sense, the piece represents a basic element of the traditional Romanian household, symbolizing the ritualistic lighting of fire, and in an extended technical sense, it can designate the central axle or supporting beam of a water or wind mill.
- To strike fire — To strike the steel against flint to produce sparks for the purpose of lighting a fire; to spark using a fire steel. In a figurative or regional sense, the action can describe a structural tightening process, a sharp verbal confrontation from which 'sparks fly', or the intense effort to generate a saving idea in a critical situation.