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Squib vs Octopus - What's the difference?

squib | octopus |

As nouns the difference between squib and octopus

is that squib is a small firework that is intended to spew sparks rather than explode while octopus is any of several marine molluscs/mollusks, of the family ''family: Octopodidae, having no internal or external protective shell or bone (unlike the nautilus, squid or cuttlefish) and eight arms each covered with suckers.

As a verb squib

is to make a sound such as a small explosion.

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

    octopus

    English

    (wikipedia octopus)

    Noun

    (see usage notes)
  • Any of several marine molluscs/mollusks, of the family '', having no internal or external protective shell or bone (unlike the nautilus, squid or cuttlefish) and eight arms each covered with suckers.
  • (uncountable) The flesh of these marine molluscs eaten as food.
  • An organization that has many powerful branches controlled from the centre.

    • Usage notes

    The plural octopi is hypercorrect, coming from the mistaken notion that the (term) in . The plural octopii is based on an incorrect attempt to pluralise the word based on an incorrect assumption of its origin, and is rare and widely considered to be nonstandard. Sources differ on which plurals are acceptable: (w, Fowler's Modern English Usage)'' asserts that “the only acceptable plural in English is octopuses”, while (Merriam-Webster) and other dictionaries accept (term) as a plural form. The ''(Oxford English Dictionary) lists (term), (term), and (term) (the order reflecting decreasing frequency of use), stating that the last form is rare. The term octopod (either plural octopods and octopodes can be found) is taken from the taxonomic order Octopoda but has no classical equivalent, and is not necessarily synonymous (it can encompass any member of that order). The collective form (term) is usually reserved for animals consumed for food.

    Derived terms

    * octopean * octopian * octopic * octopine * octopuslike * octopussy

    Synonyms

    * polypus

    See also

    * calamari * cuttlefish * Kraken * nautilus * octopoid * squid

    Anagrams

    * * English nouns with irregular plurals ----