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

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 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

“Then we lay a train away to the leather, and put a slow match which we fires, comes awaya, and horny-handed labour triumps, and the wucks comes down.”

From The Parson O' Dumford by Fenn, George Manville

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 Henty, G. A. (George Alfred)

The captain ordered the slow match to be brought to him, and went forward to the gun, which had been loaded and run out.

From Old Jack by Kingston, William Henry Giles