[f. SQUIB v.]
1. The utterance or writing of squibs.
1607. S. Collins, Serm. (1608), 70. Their squibbing at the Prelacie, yea and glancing sometimes at the soueraign authority.
a. 1849. Poe, Thou art the Man, Wks. 1895, I. 148. Hereupon some little squibbing and bickering occurred among various members of the crowd.
1856. J. W. Croker, in C. Papers (1884), I. i. 5. I was an early dabbler in political squibbing.
2. The action of firing or letting off squibs, shooting with a gun, etc. Also with off.
1697. in 14th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm., App. II. 592. The Governors of the city have been very diligent to prevent the squibbing.
1729. Swift, To Delany, Wks. 1751, III. II. 228. When with squibbing, flashing, popping, He cannot see one creature dropping.
1814. Sporting Mag., XLIV. 108. Nothing is more absurd, if a gun has been washed, than dirtying it long before its time, by what is called ‘squibbing.’
1830. Poor Man’s Guardian, 25 Dec., 5/1. The squibbing off a few pistols after the meeting.
1841. Peter Parley’s Annual, II. 63. He was thoughtless enough to go on the Green in the midst of the squibbing, with this large quantity of squibs and crackers about him.
b. In fig. context.
1825. T. Hook, Sayings, Ser. II. Doubts & F., vii. Under the heavy fire of her self-gratulation, supported by the auxiliary squibbing of her dependant.
1840. Mrs. Gore, in New Monthly Mag., LX. 53. The solemn minute-guns of a quarterly review, compared with the squibbing of a daily paper.
