The expression “coffee break” was first attested in 1952 in glossy magazine advertisements by the Pan-American Coffee Bureau.
SQUIB
squib
(noun) firework consisting of a tube filled with powder (as a broken firecracker) that burns with a fizzing noise
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Etymology
Noun
squib (plural squibs)
(military) A small firework that is intended to spew sparks rather than explode.
A similar device used to ignite an explosive or launch a rocket, etc.
(mining) A kind of slow match or safety fuse.
(US) Any small firecracker sold to the general public, usually in special clusters designed to explode in series after a single master fuse is lit.
(firearms) A malfunction in which the fired projectile does not have enough force behind it to exit the barrel, and thus becomes stuck.
(automotive) The heating element used to set off the sodium azide pellets in a vehicle's airbag.
(film, theater) In special effects, a small explosive used to replicate a bullet hitting a surface.
(dated) A short piece of witty writing; a lampoon.
(dated) A writer of lampoons.
(legal) In a legal casebook, a short summary of a legal action placed between more extensively quoted cases.
(linguistics) A short article, often published in journals, that introduces theoretically problematic empirical data or discusses an overlooked theoretical problem. In contrast to a typical article, a squib need not answer the questions that it poses.
(archaic except in idioms) An unimportant, paltry, or mean-spirited person or thing.
(graphic design) A sketched concept or visual solution, usually very quick and not too detailed.
Verb
squib (third-person singular simple present squibs, present participle squibbing, simple past and past participle squibbed)
To make a sound like a small explosion.
(colloquial, dated, ambitransitive) To throw squibs; to utter sarcastic or severe reflections; to contend in petty dispute.
Anagrams
• quibs
Source: Wiktionary
Squib, n. Etym: [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)
Definition: 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 reëchoed 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, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Squibbed; p. pr. & vb. n. Squibbing.]
Definition: To throw squibs; to utter sarcatic or severe reflections; to contend in petty dispute; as, to squib a little debate. [Colloq.]
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
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Word of the Day
8 June 2025
EXECUTION
(noun) (law) the completion of a legal instrument (such as a contract or deed) by signing it (and perhaps sealing and delivering it) so that it becomes legally binding and enforceable
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