D defs.my
Entry 6 senses · 2 variants Webster, 1913

Squib

/(skwĭb)/ · IPA /skwɪb/
01 n. 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 bur…
  1. 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. 2.
    A kind of slow match or safety fuse.(Mining)
  3. 3.
    A sarcastic speech or publication; a petty lampoon; a brief, witty essay.
    “Who copied his squibs, and reechoed his jokes.” Goldsmith.
  4. 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. 5.
    A paltry fellow.[Obs.]
02 v. i. To throw squibs; to utter sarcastic or severe reflections; to contend in petty dispute; as, to squib a little in debate.
imp. & p. p. Squibbed; p. pr. & vb. n. Squibbing
  1. 1.
    To throw squibs; to utter sarcastic or severe reflections; to contend in petty dispute; as, to squib a little in debate.[Colloq.]