add fuel to fire

add fuel to fire (third-person singular simple present adds fuel to fire, present participle adding fuel to fire, simple past and past participle added fuel to fire)

1. Alternative form of add fuel to the fire.
   • 1859, Pye Henry Chavasse, Advice to a Mother on the Management of Her Offspring, 6th edition, London: John Churchill, New Burlington Street, page 97:

     Depend upon it, there is always a cause for want of appetite; […] inflammation may be in the system, food would then be improper, as it would only add fuel to fire: therefore, let the cause be an over-worked stomach, overloaded bowels, fever, or inflammation, food will be injurious.

   • 1867 October, “‘Our Van.’ The Invoice.—September Scrapings.”, in Baily's Magazine of Sports and Pastimes, volume XIV, number 92, London: A. H. Baily & Co., Cornhill, page 50:

     We have no wish to add fuel to fire, and perhaps the whole circumstance of Pastorelle cutting such a very different figure to what she did on the first day was purely accidental.

• For more quotations using this term, see Citations:add fuel to fire.