squib

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun A small firecracker.
• noun A broken firecracker that burns but does not explode.
• noun A brief satirical or witty writing or speech, such as a lampoon.
• noun A short, sometimes humorous piece in a newspaper or magazine, usually used as a filler.
• noun Football A squib kick.
• intransitive verb To write or utter squibs.
• intransitive verb To write or utter squibs against; lampoon.
• intransitive verb Football To kick (the ball) low on a kickoff so that it bounces along the ground.

from The Century Dictionary.

• To move swiftly and irregularly.
• To make a slight, sharp report, like that of an exploding squib.
• To resort to the use of squibs, or petty lampoons.
• To throw (in or out) suddenly; explode.
• To attack in squibs; lampoon.
• noun A ball or tube filled with gunpowder, sent or fired swiftly through the air or along the ground, exploding somewhat like a rocket.
• noun A reed, rush, quill, or roll of paper filled with a priming of gunpowder; a tube of some kind used to set off a charge of gunpowder, as at the bottom of a drill-hole. Also called mote, train, and match.
• noun A fire-cracker, especially one broken in the middle so that when it is fired the charge explodes without a loud report.
• noun A petty lampoon; a short satirical writing or sketch holding up a person or thing to ridicule.
• noun One who writes lampoons or squibs; a petty satirist; a paltry, trifling fellow.
• noun A kind of cheap taffy, made of treacle.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• intransitive verb colloq. To throw squibs; to utter sarcastic or severe reflections; to contend in petty dispute.
• noun 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.
• noun (Mining) A kind of slow match or safety fuse.
• noun A sarcastic speech or publication; a petty lampoon; a brief, witty essay.
• noun obsolete A writer of lampoons.
• noun obsolete A paltry fellow.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun military A small firework that is intended to spew sparks rather than explode.
• noun A similar device used to ignite an explosive or launch a rocket, etc.
• noun 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.
• noun automotive The heating element used to set off the sodium azide pellets in a vehicle's airbag.
• noun A small explosive used to replicate a bullet hitting a surface.
• noun dated A short piece of witty writing; a lampoon.
• noun law In a legal casebook, a short summary of a legal action placed between more extensively quoted cases.
• noun linguistics A short article, often published in journals, that introduces empirical data problematic to linguistic theory or discusses an overlooked theoretical problem. In contrast to a typical linguistic article, a squib need not answer the questions that it poses.
• noun archaic An unimportant, paltry, or mean-spirited person.
• noun slang A sketched concept or visual solution, usually very quick and not too detailed. A word most commonly used within the Graphic Design industry.
• verb To make a sound such as a small explosion.
• verb colloquial, dated To throw squibs; to utter sarcastic or severe reflections; to contend in petty dispute.
• verb this sense?) (slang) To draw a concept or layout to visually explain an idea ("let me squib something to show you what I mean").

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun firework consisting of a tube filled with powder (as a broken firecracker) that burns with a fizzing noise