friction match

American  

noun

1. a kind of match tipped with a compound that ignites by friction.

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friction match British  

noun

1. a match that ignites as a result of the heat produced by friction when it is struck on a rough surface See also safety match

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Etymology

Origin of friction match

An Americanism dating back to 1830–40

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

friction match

And who really invented those later marvels, the friction match, the barometer, the airplane, the steamboat?

From Time Magazine Archive

The modern phosphorus friction match came into use about 1833.

From Great Inventions and Discoveries by Piercy, Willis Duff

The first patent in the United States for a friction match was issued October 24, 1836, to Alonzo D. Phillips, of Springfield, Massachusetts.

From Great Inventions and Discoveries by Piercy, Willis Duff

Guns were flint-locks, tinder-boxes were used until the manufacture of the friction match.

From The Life of Abraham Lincoln by Ketcham, Henry

Thucydides never had his works puffed in a newspaper, Virgil and Horace never poetized or lectured for a lyceum; Charlemagne never saw a locomotive, nor did St. Thomas Aquinas ever use a friction match.

From My Unknown Chum by Fairbanks, Charles Bullard