tinderbox
1
9.8
- noun
- /ˈtɪndərˌbɑks/
- Archaic
:
caja de yesca
- Caidrun laid the helmet on the pyre and picked up the tinderbox.
- fire from his tinderbox
- took out my tinderbox
Examples
-
I reached into the leather pouch on my belt, took out my tinderbox and a stump of candle, and quickly struck the steel against the flint.
Fiction book (2001) -
Then he pulls out the tinderbox and, with a sense of inevitability, opens it.
Fiction book (1995) -
"Studying the tinderbox, he turns it over in his hand.
Fiction book (1995) -
A tinderbox and a second knife, smaller than the one at her belt.
Fiction book (1992) -
When it's safe, he sits up and strikes the tinderbox three times.
Fiction book (1995) -
A few other things, like hobbles, some horse medicines just in case, a spare tinderbox, and such.
Fiction book (1992) -
Caidrun weighed the tinderbox on her palm.
Fiction book (1993) -
Caidrun dipped into her pocket and held out a tinderbox.
Fiction book (1993) -
Tense, Tuck pulls a tinderbox from his robes and strikes a flame.
Fiction book (1991) -
The old soldier retrieved the tinderbox from his pack, ready to start a fire.
Idioms
- Literature
A tense unstable situation that could easily become violent
Compounds
How Portable
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
Tinderbox comes from the parts tinder and box. Tinder means 'dry material for making a fire' and a box is a small 'container', so a tinderbox was a small box used to hold the things you needed to start a fire before matches.