slow match

American  

noun

1. a slow-burning match or fuse, often consisting of a rope or cord soaked in a solution of saltpeter.

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slow match British  

noun

1. a match or fuse that burns slowly without flame, esp a wick impregnated with potassium nitrate

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Etymology

Origin of slow match

First recorded in 1795–1805

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

slow match

He shows us how to keep the slow match burning by blowing the ash off of it every few minutes, and how to use it to ignite the gunpowder.

From "Blood on the River" by Elisa Carbone

While he slept, a spark must have lit the powder bag—a spark from someone’s pipe or from the slow match on someone’s musket.

From "Blood on the River" by Elisa Carbone

A slow match was prepared which would give him a quarter of an hour in which to escape from the explosion.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 10, Slice 2 "Fairbanks, Erastus" to "Fens" by Various

He applied a slow match to it, and it broke into a blaze at once.

From A Roving Commission Or, Through the Black Insurrection at Hayti by G. A. (George Alfred) Henty

Come closer, I mustn’t leave any powder near the slow match.

From Blind Policy by George Manville Fenn