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Quib vs Squib - What's the difference?

quib | squib |

In archaic|lang=en terms the difference between quib and squib

is that quib is (archaic) a quip or gibe while squib is (archaic) an unimportant, paltry, or mean-spirited person.

As nouns the difference between quib and squib

is that quib is (archaic) a quip or gibe while squib is (military) a small firework that is intended to spew sparks rather than explode.

As a verb squib is

to make a sound such as a small explosion.

quib

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • (archaic) A quip or gibe.
    • He was full of joke and jest / But all his merry quibs are o'er — Tennyson.

    squib

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (military) A small firework that is intended to spew sparks rather than explode.
    • English Navy squibs set fire to two dozen enemy ships in a Dutch harbor during the 16th century battle against the Spanish Armada.
  • * Blackstone
    • The making and selling of fireworks and squibs is punishable.
  • 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 available in special clusters designed to explode in series after a single master fuze is lit.
  • (automotive) The heating element used to set off the sodium azide pellets in a vehicle's airbag.
  • (cinema or theater special effects) A small explosive used to replicate a bullet hitting a surface.
  • (dated) A short piece of witty writing; a lampoon.
  • * Goldsmith
    • who copied his squibs , and re-echoed his jokes.
  • (dated) A writer of lampoons.
  • * Tatler
    • The squibs are those who in the common phrase of the world are called libellers, lampooners, and pamphleteers.
  • (legal) In a legal casebook, a short summary of a legal action placed between more extensively quoted cases.
  • (academia) 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.
  • * 2008 , William J. Idsardi, Combinatorics for Metrical Feet , in Biolinguistics Vol 2, No 2
    • In this squib I will prove that the number of possible metrical parsings into feet under these assumptions […]
  • (archaic) An unimportant, paltry, or mean-spirited person.
  • * Spenser, Mother Hubberds Tale ll. 369-371:
    • Its a hard case when men of good deserving / must either driven be perforce to sterving / or asked for their pas by everie squib
  • (slang) A sketched concept or visual solution, usually very quick and not too detailed. A word most commonly used within the Graphic Design industry.

    • Derived terms

    * damp squib

    Usage notes

    In the uses squib to mean a child of someone magical who doesn’t have magical powers.

    Verb

    (squibb)
  • To make a sound such as a small explosion.
    • A squibbed in the jungle.
  • (colloquial, dated) To throw squibs; to utter sarcastic or severe reflections; to contend in petty dispute.
    • to squib a little debate

    References