Dictionary
Thesaurus
Reference
Translate
Web
squib - 5 dictionary results

squib

[skwib] ,noun, verb, squibbed, squib⋅bing.
–noun
1. a short and witty or sarcastic saying or writing.
2. Journalism. a short news story, often used as a filler.
3. a small firework, consisting of a tube or ball filled with powder, that burns with a hissing noise terminated usually by a slight explosion.
4. a firecracker broken in the middle so that it burns with a hissing noise but does not explode.
5. Australian. a coward.
6. an electric, pyrotechnic device for firing the igniter of a rocket engine, esp. a solid-propellant engine.
7. Obsolete. a mean or paltry fellow.
–verb (used without object)
8. to write squibs.
9. to shoot a squib.
10. to explode with a small, sharp sound.
11. to move swiftly and irregularly.
12. Australian.
a. to be afraid.
b. to flee; escape.
–verb (used with object)
13. to assail in squibs or lampoons.
14. to toss, shoot, or utilize as a squib.

Origin:
1515–25; orig. uncert.


squibbish, adjective
squib   (skwĭb)   
n.  
    1. A small firecracker.
    2. A broken firecracker that burns but does not explode.
    3. A brief satirical or witty writing or speech, such as a lampoon.
    4. A short, sometimes humorous piece in a newspaper or magazine, usually used as a filler.
    1. A brief satirical or witty writing or speech, such as a lampoon.
    2. A short, sometimes humorous piece in a newspaper or magazine, usually used as a filler.
v.   squibbed, squib·bing, squibs

v.   intr.
To write or utter squibs.
v.   tr.
  1. To write or utter squibs against; lampoon.
  2. Football To kick (the ball) low on a kickoff so that it bounces along the ground.

[Probably imitative.]

Squib

Squib\, n. [OE. squippen, swippen, to move swiftky, Icel. svipa to swoop, flash, dart, whip; akin to AS. swipian to whip, and E. swift, a. See Swift, a.]

1. A little pipe, or hollow cylinder of paper, filled with powder or combustible matter, to be thrown into the air while burning, so as to burst there with a crack.

Lampoons, like squibs, may make a present blaze. --Waller.

The making and selling of fireworks, and squibs . . . is punishable. --Blackstone.

2. (Mining) A kind of slow match or safety fuse.

3. A sarcastic speech or publication; a petty lampoon; a brief, witty essay.

Who copied his squibs, and re["e]choed his jokes. --Goldsmith.

4. A writer of lampoons. [Obs.]

The squibs are those who in the common phrase of the world are called libelers, lampooners, and pamphleteers. --Tatler.

5. A paltry fellow. [Obs.] --Spenser.

Squib

Squib\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Squibbed; p. pr. & vb. n. Squibbing.] To throw squibs; to utter sarcatic or severe reflections; to contend in petty dispute; as, to squib a little debate. [Colloq.]

squib 
c.1525, "short bit of sarcastic writing, witty scoff," of unknown origin. If the meaning "small firework that burns with a hissing noise" (attested from 1530) is the original one, the word may be imitative.
Search another word or see squib on Thesaurus | Reference