When did the term to "fire" someone (as in, from a job) come into use?

by bigapplebaum

It's vernacular now, but I can't think of any way that it might have originated.

LockNuts

The earliest reference in the OED for this sense of the word 'fire' is from 1885.

It derives from the sense of the word 'to expel forcefully' and was often used as 'fire out'.