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

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

From Time Magazine Archive

But the first really practical friction match was made in the United States in 1836 by L.C.

From The Scrap Book, Volume 1, No. 6 August 1906 by Various

No wort der Breitmann ootered, He only make a sgratch, Calm and silend on de daple, Mit a liddle friction match.

From The Breitmann Ballads by Leland, Charles Godfrey

No man in the country had ever seen a stove, or a furnace, or a friction match, or an envelope, or a piece of mineral coal.

From A School History of the United States by McMaster, John Bach

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

From The Life of Abraham Lincoln by Ketcham, Henry