safety match

American  

noun

1. a match designed to ignite only when rubbed on a specially prepared surface.

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safety match British  

noun

1. a match that will light only when struck against a specially prepared surface

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Etymology

Origin of safety match

First recorded in 1860–65

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

safety match

She struck a safety match, and flames roared 20 feet into the air, until only her two out stretched hands were visible.

From Time Magazine Archive

Frey reached in his pocket and pulled out a safety match and flicked it with his fingernail.

From Hooded Detective, Volume III No. 2, January, 1942 by Various

To-day the safety match, certain and odorless, is sold at one-tenth of this price.

From Inventors by Hubert, Philip Gengembre

It was a night wherein a hundred searchlights and a million star-flares would not have made more impression on the density of the fog than would the striking of a safety match.

From Bruce by Terhune, Albert Payson

He struck a safety match and held it to the leg of the table.

From Nonsense Novels by Leacock, Stephen