English Navy squibs set fire to two dozen enemy ships in a Dutch harbor during the 16th-century battle against the Spanish Armada.
The making and selling of fireworks and squibs, or throwing them about on any street, is […] punishable by fine.1769, William Blackstone, “Of Offences Against the Public Health and the Public Police or Economy”, in Commentaries on the Laws of England, book IV (Of Public Wrongs), Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page 531:
2
A similar device used to ignite an explosive or launch a rocket, etc.
Ye nevvs-paper vvitlings! ye pert ſcribbling folks! / VVho copied his ſquibs, and re-echoed his jokes, […]1774, [Oliver] Goldsmith, “Postscript”, in Retaliation: A Poem. […], 5th edition, London: […] G[eorge] Kearsly, […], →OCLC, page 21:
Of the dozen or so surviving articles, squibs, and letters to the editor, the most remarkable appeared in the Whip and Satirist’s February 12, 1842, issue, and disclosed the existence of a cabal of gay men in New York's otherwise wholesome nightscape of brothels and riots.2005, Mark Caldwell, New York Night, page 133:
November 1, 1709, Richard Steele, The Tatler The squibs are those who in the common phrase of the world are called libellers, lampooners, and pamphleteers.
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Law In a legal casebook, a short summary of a legal action placed between more extensively quoted cases.
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Human sciences, Linguistics, Sciences 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.
In this squib I will prove that the number of possible metrical parsings into feet under these assumptions […]2008, William J. Idsardi, Combinatorics for Metrical Feet, in Biolinguistics Vol 2, No 2
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An unimportant, paltry, or mean-spirited person.
Archaic except in idioms
Its a hard case when men of good deserving / must either driven be perforce to sterving / or asked for their pas by everie squib.1591, Edmund Spenser, Mother Hubberds Tale ll. 369-371:
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Arts, Graphic design A sketched concept or visual solution, usually very quick and not too detailed.
I'm putting my foot down, Janelle. We're raising a nation of squibs!2021, Joe Brumm, “Pass the Parcel”, in Bluey, season 3, episode 13, spoken by Lucky's Dad (Brad Elliot):
Etymology Possibly imitative of a small explosion.
1
To make a sound like a small explosion.
A Snider squibbed in the jungle.
2
Ambitransitive, Colloquial, Dated To throw squibs; to utter sarcastic or severe reflections; to contend in petty dispute.
to squib a little debate
3
Australia To dodge something difficult, to bottle.
He squibbed the opportunity to push the claim that Kyoto should remain the flagship for international action - because deep down those on the other side know that the world has moved on beyond Kyoto.2007 September 11, Australia. Parliament. House of Representatives, Parliamentary Debates (Hansard).: House of Representatives: