fireworks

1. (plural only) An event or a display where fireworks are set off.Examples: "5000 Marrons in Battery, which continue firing to the End of the Fireworks."; "By now, a great many people were walking towards the fireworks but their steps fell so softly and they chatted in such gentle voices there was no more noise than a warm, continual, murmurous humming, the cosy should of shared happiness, and the night filled with a muted, bourgeois yet authentic magic. Above our heads, the fireworks hung dissolving earrings on the night. Soon we lay down in a stubbled field to watch the fireworks."; "[T]he fireworks were irretrievably connected with the establishment and political success, and tried to bridge the gap to public favour; just as Water Music helped keep the King's image sweet, so Fireworks Music celebrated the national benefit from the power this generated. […] [T]he fireworks were run as a successful commercial enterprise as well as a symbol of monarchical power. The prudent George [II of Great Britain] would surely have been pleased equally by both."pluralplural-only

2. (plural only, figuratively) A boisterous or violent event or situation.Examples: "I left the room after John came home drunk but before the fireworks went off."; "Legal fireworks began yesterday in Benin at the pre-hearing of the petition by the People's Democratic Party, PDP, governorship candidate in the September 28, 2016 election in Edo State, Pastor Osagie Ize-Iyamu, challenging the declaration of Mr. Godwin Obaseki of All Progressives Congress, APC, by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, as winner of the election."; "Bedlam started slow, but fireworks started in the second quarter as Oklahoma State took a 17–10 lead to the break."figurativelypluralplural-only