squib
Part of speech: noun
verb
Morphological type: simple
Topics: arts
automotive
broadcasting
business
engineering
entertainment
film
firearms
government
graphic-design
human-sciences
law
lifestyle
linguistics
media
military
mining
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
politics
sciences
television
theater
tools
transport
vehicles
war
weaponry
Etymology: Possibly imitative of a small explosion.
Inflected forms:
form: squibs
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: squibs
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: squibbing
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: squibbed
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: squibbed
pos: verb
tags: past
Senses:
gloss: A small firework that is intended to spew sparks rather than explode.
pos: noun
examples: English Navy squibs set fire to two dozen enemy ships in a Dutch harbor during the 16th-century battle against the Spanish Armada.
The making and selling of fireworks and squibs, or throwing them about on any street, is […] punishable by fine.
gloss: A similar device used to ignite an explosive or launch a rocket, etc.
pos: noun
gloss: A kind of slow match or safety fuse.
pos: noun
gloss: Any small firecracker sold to the general public, usually in special clusters designed to explode in series after a single master fuse is lit.
pos: noun
tags: US
gloss: A malfunction in which the fired projectile does not have enough force behind it to exit the barrel, and thus becomes stuck.
pos: noun
gloss: The heating element used to set off the sodium azide pellets in a vehicle's airbag.
pos: noun
gloss: In special effects, a small explosive used to replicate a bullet hitting a surface or a gunshot wound on an actor.
pos: noun
gloss: A short piece of witty writing; a lampoon.
pos: noun
tags: dated
examples: Ye nevvs-paper vvitlings! ye pert ſcribbling folks! / VVho copied his ſquibs, and re-echoed his jokes, […]
Of the dozen or so surviving articles, squibs, and letters to the editor, the most remarkable appeared in the Whip and Satirist’s February 12, 1842, issue, and disclosed the existence of a cabal of gay men in New York's otherwise wholesome nightscape of brothels and riots.
gloss: A writer of lampoons.
pos: noun
tags: dated
examples: November 1, 1709, Richard Steele, The Tatler
The squibs are those who in the common phrase of the world are called libellers, lampooners, and pamphleteers.
gloss: In a legal casebook, a short summary of a legal action placed between more extensively quoted cases.
pos: noun
gloss: A short article, often published in journals, that introduces theoretically problematic empirical data or discusses an overlooked theoretical problem. In contrast to a typical article, a squib need not answer the questions that it poses.
pos: noun
examples: In this squib I will prove that the number of possible metrical parsings into feet under these assumptions […]
gloss: An unimportant, paltry, or mean-spirited person.
pos: noun
examples: Its a hard case when men of good deserving / must either driven be perforce to sterving / or asked for their pas by everie squib.
gloss: A sketched concept or visual solution, usually very quick and not too detailed.
pos: noun
gloss: A coward or wimp.
pos: noun
tags: Australia
examples: I'm putting my foot down, Janelle. We're raising a nation of squibs!
gloss: To make a sound like a small explosion.
pos: verb
examples: A Snider squibbed in the jungle.
gloss: To throw squibs; to utter sarcastic or severe reflections; to contend in petty dispute.
pos: verb
tags: ambitransitive
colloquial
dated
examples: to squib a little debate
gloss: To dodge something difficult, to bottle.
pos: verb
tags: Australia
examples: He squibbed the opportunity to push the claim that Kyoto should remain the flagship for international action - because deep down those on the other side know that the world has moved on beyond Kyoto.
Derived words: damp squib
squibber
squibbery
squibbish
squib kick
squiblet
Translations:
lang: Czech
word: zesměšňovat
lang: Czech
word: parodovat