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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.
|
–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.
1515–25; orig. uncert.

Related forms:
squibbish, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Link To squib
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
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.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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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.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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