SQUIB

squib. Squib, n. a paper of wildfire, a puffing fellow, ridicule

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Squib (skwĭb), n. [[OE. squippen, swippen, to move swiftly, Icel. svipa to swoop, flash, dart, whip; akin to AS. swipian to whip, and E. swift, a. See Swift, a.]] 1. 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. 2. (Mining) A kind of slow match or safety fuse.
3. 3. A sarcastic speech or publication; a petty lampoon; a brief, witty essay.
Who copied his squibs, and reëchoed his jokes. Goldsmith. 4. 4. A writer of lampoons.
The squibs are those who in the common phrase of the world are called libelers, lampooners, and pamphleteers. Tatler. 5. 5. A paltry fellow. Spenser.