squib

About 0.10 uses per million words.

Meaning

1. noun A small firework that is intended to spew sparks rather than explode.

   English Navy squibs set fire to two dozen enemy ships in a Dutch harbor during the 16th-century battle against the Spanish Armada.

2. noun A similar device used to ignite an explosive or launch a rocket, etc.
3. noun A kind of slow match or safety fuse.
4. noun Any small firecracker sold to the general public, usually in special clusters designed to explode in series after a single master fuse is lit.
5. noun A malfunction in which the fired projectile does not have enough force behind it to exit the barrel, and thus becomes stuck.
6. noun The heating element used to set off the sodium azide pellets in a vehicle's airbag.
7. noun In special effects, a small explosive used to replicate a bullet hitting a surface or a gunshot wound on an actor.
8. noun A short piece of witty writing; a lampoon.

Similar words

sparkler sparklet firecracker bomblet sparke whizz-bang squirt smartlet flashpot spunk

Often followed by

in of on is was and about or that

Word family

squibbed squibbing squibs