Hypertext Webster Gateway: "Squib"

From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)

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.]

From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)

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.

From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)

squib
n : firework consisting of a tube filled with powder (as a
broken firecracker) that burns with a fizzing noise


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