squib

• POS: Noun, Verb (usu participle)

CIDE DICTIONARY

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

•  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.  [1913 Webster]

  "Lampoons, like squibs, may make a present blaze."  [1913 Webster]

  "The making and selling of fireworks, and squibs . . . is punishable."  [1913 Webster]
•  A kind of slow match or safety fuse.  [1913 Webster]
•  A sarcastic speech or publication; a petty lampoon; a brief, witty essay.  [1913 Webster]

  "Who copied his squibs, and reëchoed his jokes."  [1913 Webster]
•  A writer of lampoons.  [1913 Webster]

  "The squibs are those who in the common phrase of the world are called libelers, lampooners, and pamphleteers."  [1913 Webster]
•  A paltry fellow.  Spenser.  [1913 Webster]

squib, v. i. 

 To throw squibs; to utter sarcastic or severe reflections; to contend in petty dispute; as, to squib a little in debate.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

squib, n. & v.
--n.
1 a small firework burning with a hissing sound and usu. with a final explosion.
2 a short satirical composition, a lampoon.
--v. (squibbed, squibbing)
1 tr. US Football kick (the ball) a comparatively short distance on a kick-off; execute (a kick) in this way.
2 archaic a intr. write lampoons. b tr. lampoon.

Etymology

16th c.: orig. unkn.: perh. imit.

THESAURUS

squib

Atticism, agile wit, black humor, blasting cap, burlesque, cap, caricature, comedy, detonating powder, detonator, dry wit, electric detonator, esprit, exploder, farce, fulminating mercury, fuse, hatchet job, humor, imitation, irony, lampoon, malicious parody, mercury fulminate, mockery, nimble wit, parody, pasquil, pasquin, pasquinade, pastiche, percussion cap, pleasantry, poison pen, pretty wit, primacord, primer, priming, quick wit, ready wit, salt, sarcasm, satire, savor of wit, slapstick, slapstick humor, subtle wit, takeoff, travesty, visual humor, wicked imitation, wit

ROGET THESAURUS

squib

Ridicule

N ridicule, derision, sardonic smile, sardonic grin, irrision, scoffing, mockery, quiz, banter, irony, persiflage, raillery, chaff, badinage, quizzing, asteism, squib, satire, skit, quip, quib, grin, parody, burlesque, travesty, travestie, farce, caricature, buffoonery, practical joke, horseplay, scorn, contempt, derisory, derisive, mock, mocking, sarcastic, ironic, ironical, quizzical, burlesque, Hudibrastic, scurrilous, in ridicule.

Snap

N snap, rapping, decrepitation, crepitation, report, thud, burst, explosion, blast, boom, discharge, detonation, firing, salvo, volley, squib, cracker, firecracker, cherry bomb, M, gun, cap, cap gun, popgun, implosion, bomb burst, atomic explosion, nuclear explosion (arms), gunpowder, dynamite, gun cotton, nitroglycerine, nitrocellulose, plastic explosive, plastique, TNT, cordite, trinitrotoluene, picric acid, picrates, mercury fulminate (arms), whack, wham, pow, rapping, Int, kaboom!, whamo!, Heewhack!, pow!.