What's the difference between spew and squib?

Spew


Definition:

  • (v. t.) To eject from the stomach; to vomit.
  • (v. t.) To cast forth with abhorrence or disgust; to eject.
  • (v. i.) To vomit.
  • (v. i.) To eject seed, as wet land swollen with frost.
  • (n.) That which is vomited; vomit.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) The paper, which traditionally supports the Tory party and was edited by the former Conservative cabinet minister Bill Deedes during seven years of Thatcher's reign, feared an avalanche of "bile" would "spew" from its pages and decided to keep comments closed, according to insiders.
  • (2) Media organisations gorge themselves, then spew out vast quantities of video, sound and copy.
  • (3) Meanwhile, California's pollution control officers warned this month that extreme heat and wildfires could set back decades of improvements in air quality, boosting smog formation and spewing dangerous smoke into the air.
  • (4) The old divisions between rich and poor countries, the climate polluters of the past and the rising economies now spewing out carbon in their rush to prosperity, were wearing away, they said.
  • (5) The tea-shop owner’s home is just a couple of hundred metres from a huge, ageing coal-fired power plant in central Turkey , whose red-and-white chimneys spew dirty fumes.
  • (6) Could hit their market share if so.” During the byelection, anonymous Tweeters such as @northerncomment – a hate-spewing account followed by O’Flynn – were still chuntering about a boycott of Walkers.
  • (7) On 1 February, 17 died when Mount Sinabung in North Sumatra province spewed lava and gas.
  • (8) Meanwhile, at the top of the tree, managers of the maquiladoras – faced with recession and competition from Asia – needed fewer workers, spewing their surplus humanity (which flocked here from all over Mexico) into the new narco-economy of "opportunities" for murder, extortion and kidnapping.
  • (9) Few who spew this vitriol would dare speak with the type of personalized scorn toward, say, George Bush or Tony Blair – who actually launched an aggressive war that resulted in the deaths of at least 100,000 innocent people and kidnapped people from around the globe with no due process and sent them to be tortured.
  • (10) That's why his praise for European fascists as being the only ones saying "sensible" things about Islam is significant: not because it means he's a European fascist, but because it's unsurprising that the bile spewed at Muslims from that faction would be appealing to Harris because he shares those sentiments both in his rhetoric and his advocated policies, albeit with a more intellectualized expression.
  • (11) The refinery chimneys were spewing out 1.7 million tonnes of carbon dioxide into the air per year till 2011.
  • (12) Drillers have lost control over wells during fracking, including one last month in Bradford County that spewed chemicals for 19 hours.
  • (13) The plant, located 150 miles north of Tokyo, has spewed radiation into the atmosphere and contaminated seawater and agricultural produce, forcing the evacuation of 80,000 people living nearby.
  • (14) But environmental groups have accused the bloc of doing too little to end subsidies for carbon-spewing coal power plants, and of undermining investments in renewables.
  • (15) Gatwick’s gung ho about expansion Barely had David Cameron got back to Downing Street than the Airports Commission was reopening its consultation on Heathrow versus Gatwick, and publishing new data on the fumes each expanded airport would spew into their neighbourhoods.
  • (16) Every time I see Lindsey Graham spew hate during interviews I ask why the media never questions how I single handily [sic] destroyed his hapless run for president.
  • (17) But he warned that countries must avoid being "locked in" to high-carbon infrastructure - power stations and buildings constructed today will still be in operation and spewing out carbon decades from now, and that will be unsustainable.
  • (18) The fascinating pitter-patter of stomach contents against the back of your teeth as a fearsome torrent of spew erupts from within like a liquid poltergeist fleeing an exorcism.
  • (19) These mobile factories dig out earth and line a concrete shell around them as they push ahead, spewing out spoil and laying track behind them.
  • (20) And MSNBC still has quite a ways to go before it matches Fox's demonstrated willingness to spew outright falsehoods in pursuit of its partisan agenda.

Squib


Definition:

  • (a.) 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.
  • (a.) A kind of slow match or safety fuse.
  • (a.) A sarcastic speech or publication; a petty lampoon; a brief, witty essay.
  • (a.) A writer of lampoons.
  • (a.) A paltry fellow.
  • (v. i.) To throw squibs; to utter sarcatic or severe reflections; to contend in petty dispute; as, to squib a little debate.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) It’s a damp squib, a bit of a nothing result,” a leading energy analyst said of a report that is widely expected to endorse provisional findings released in March , and recommend price controls on prepayment meters and setting up a customer database to help rival suppliers target customers stuck on expensive default tariffs.
  • (2) UK watchdog accused of bowing to pressure from 'big six' energy suppliers Read more However, it was not temporary precipitation that meant the CMA produced a damp squib but months of ferocious lobbying by the big six to ensure the industry is left largely in its existing state.
  • (3) Not only doesn’t Australia, as a nation, possess these protections, but the Coalition government is actively opposed to their implementation, while Labor squibbed the opportunity to do something about it in 2010.
  • (4) But their great offensive has been a damp squib, consisting mostly of lecturing greens that we can’t “turn off fossil fuels overnight”.
  • (5) Yet in the peace-giving west, the award remains significantly venerated – a testament, surely, to being a dynamite idea in principle (if you'll forgive the cliched reference to Alfred Nobel's other gift to the world ) but a mostly damp squib in practice.
  • (6) Gordon Brown's long awaited measures to help people struggling with soaring gas and electricity bills may have been derided as a bit of damp squib, but at least there are grants out there to help you insulate your home.
  • (7) 4.36pm BST Markets close European markets have nearly all closed up, except for the FTSE after a handful or blue chip firms went ex-dividend today FTSE 100 down 15 points (0.2%) at 6579 DAX up 16 points (0.2%) at 8432 CAC up 22 points (0.6%) at 4115 FTSE MIB up 83 points (0.5%) at 17463 IBEX up 31 points (0.4%) at 8783 4.00pm BST Michael Hewson, senior market analysts at CMC Markets, says the end of the EU recession is a damp squib which has shown up the disparity between France, Germany and the rest of the continent.
  • (8) Alternatively, there are fears that the authorities have left it too late for quantative easing and that it will prove another damp squib.
  • (9) "With the budget a damp squib, the economy faltering and the NHS reforms becoming more unpopular each and every day, marchers will have returned home determined to step up their democratic campaign against policies that neither government party put before the electorate at the last election."
  • (10) Paul Turner-Mitchell, a business rates expert, said the autumn statement had been “terrible” for retailers, with increasing signs that a review of the commercial property tax would prove a damp squib.
  • (11) Brown's closest ministerial ally, Ed Balls, said the email was a "damp squib" by a few disgruntled MPs and insisted that the cabinet was "absolutely united" behind Brown.But the number of cabinet voices emerging in support of Brown did not begin to rise to a chorus until early evening, among them two of the ministers tipped as possible successors to Brown – the home secretary, Alan Johnson, and the energy secretary, Ed Miliband, who said today's call by rebels would be seen as a "temporary distraction" from the job of fighting the Conservatives and laying out future plans for the country.
  • (12) Ishaq Siddiqi , market strategist at ETX Capital, says shares have been trading in a 'narrow range' in European markets, ahead of tonight's fireworks (or damp squibs) from Ben Bernanke .
  • (13) Yet somehow her campaign launched as if a damp squib was the height of her ambition.
  • (14) According to Chris Prior: Whilst I'd probably get lynched for saying this within the confines of my office (working for a major bookmaker and surrounded by England fans): I can't help but think that another damp-squib of a 0-0 draw and subsequent exit would be nearly as funny as the fallout from England 2-3 Croatia, especially given the amount of trust and belief that people have invested in Fabio Capello this time around (and the usual argument of the over-inflated ego's of the overpaid players of the "EPL").
  • (15) Gillard described Abbott’s motion as a “damp squib” 4.02am GMT 'We will fight and fight and fight' Julia Gillard declares in the House of Representatives: We will fight and fight and fight and when the election is held in September we will prevail because the choice will be so clear and the right path for a stronger future will be so clear too.
  • (16) If one does in the coming hours, then what Brown's allies were happy to call a damp squib will spark back to potentially lethal life.
  • (17) The Clash, Give 'Em Enough Rope (Columbia, 1978) In an ideal world, the Clash's discography would hop from their eponymous debut to their masterpiece, London's Calling, but in between lurks this notorious damp squib.
  • (18) The Hindustan Times felt that "without a legally binding document, the summit turned into a damp squib".
  • (19) Brexit negotiator warns Donald Trump poses 'third threat' to EU Read more However, a senior Lib Dem source said there was “no chance” of getting any substantial amendments passed with cross-party support and the debate was likely to be a “damp squib”.
  • (20) Europe's day of protest is intended as a show of union power staging a comeback, but may prove a noisy damp squib, a demonstration of angry impotence.