matchwood

[mach-woo d]

noun

wood suitable for match.

splinters(def 1).

Nearby words

Origin of matchwood

First recorded in 1590–1600; match¹ + wood¹

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for matchwood

Only one of the shells did any damage and it smashed a limbered wagon to matchwood.
The Incomparable 29th and the "River Clyde"|George Davidson
In two seconds the men had cut her away, but not before she had nearly banged herself to matchwood against our side.
Le Petit Nord|Anne Elizabeth Caldwell (MacClanahan) Grenfell and Katie Spalding
We are safe enough; we are artillery and plate-armour: and she stands up to us with matchwood and a snail!
Alarms and Discursions|G. K. Chesterton
MacDonald had camped before in the basin, and there were tepee poles ready cut, as light and dry as matchwood.
The Hunted Woman|James Oliver Curwood

There was wild excitement amongst the brigade men, for they saw that she must be smashed into matchwood in five minutes.
The Romance of the Coast|James Runciman

British Dictionary definitions for matchwood

matchwood

noun

wood suitable for making matches

splinters or fragmentsthe bomb blew the house to matchwood

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012