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

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

He took his plate for a slow match.

From Caleb in the Country by Abbott, Jacob

The slow match, the magazine, and that last, deep, low, sullen, mournful boom told our people, now far away on the march, that their gallant ship was no more.

From The Monitor and the Merrimac Both sides of the story by Ramsay, H. Ashton

I think that had they put a slow match in the magazine of the other brigantine it would have exploded before this.

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