squib

Ms Medcalf, of York University, said: "It seems plausible that old Yorkshire terms form part of the source of squibs, the Wiggentree and the niffler."

"I'd just ask all the people of Dudley to stay away so it becomes a damp squib."

The report said: "The squib valve proposed for the AP1000 is a novel design using a charged release mechanism.

A squib is an explosive device once used to ignite gunpowder in cannons.

A squib is a round that lodges in the barrel because the cartridge did not have enough, or any, gunpowder.

Three weeksin and Robson Green's latest effort - about a widower who wants to build a rocket to blast his wife's ashes into space - is proving to be a damp squib. It needs to light the touchpaper soon...

While Morgentaler himself undeniably has his ghoulish acolytes, as charismatic figureheads go, he's a pretty damp squib, lacking both charm and eloquence, and given to blurting poisonous, insupportable, and self-promoting bromides about how much his work as a foetus liquidator has driven down crime rates in contemporary Canadian society.

With a right- footed kicker, we will rep several ones (onside), two's (surprise onside), and sixes (a hard squib down the hash).

Welsh football's rumour mill has switched into overdrive following Mark Hughes' damp squib of a last hurrah at the Millennium Stadium on Wednesday night.

Lennie Lawrence has finally accepted that Cardiff City's season has ended 'like a damp squib'.

Hence, the final entry in a 2002 Rolling Stone piece detailing "25 Essential Harrison Performances" is a squib about the 1973 hit "Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth)."

Over a third of business advisers who voted Labour in 1997 plan to switch allegiance to the Tories, with almost 30 per cent describing Labour's term in office as "a damp squib".

Likewise, buildings such as 9 West 57th Street, a/k/a the Solow Building, where Avon is vacating; 345 Park Avenue, where Bristol-Myer Squib has a 250,000 square-foot long-term sub-lease on the market; and 55 East 52nd Street, a/k/a Park Avenue Plaza (where First Boston is vacating) will probably have a tremendous surge of activity and not go begging for tenants (unless of course they are priced improperly).

THE launch of the all-new BBC Scotland channel was a bit of a damp squib. Lots of people trying to crack jokes in a language I could barely understand.

Paid a squillion to enter the house, KP (above) has proved something of a damp squib but that shouldn't surprise you - have you ever witnessed a dry squib?