fireback

Any of certain species of pheasant in the genus Lophura.

There are several species of the Fireback pheasant, the most common of which is the Siamese, which inhabits parts of Siam.

The name fireback comes from this bird's dazzling plumage.

A piece of iron that fits into the back of a fireplace to distribute the heat and keep the brick from cracking.

The only condition of the loan is that if the Daughters of the American Revolution are ever disbanded, that the fireback is to be returned to the descendants of General Lincoln.

Many of the later style fireplaces, most especially of the better class, showed firebacks. These were of iron, and were designed to keep the back of the fireplace from cracking. ... In the Pickering house on Broad Street, Salem, is a quaint fireback which was made in the first iron foundry at Saugus, now Lynn.