English Explanatory Dictionary

lucifer match

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A sulfur friction match whose head is treated with equal parts antimony trisulfide and potassium chlorate.
  2. Synonym of phosphorus match, a strike-anywhere friction match coated with white phosphorus.
  3. Synonym of friction match, inclusive of safety matches.

Word forms

lucifer match lucifer matches lucifer

Etymology

From Latin lucifer (“bringer of light”), originally a brand name for Isaac Holden's match formulation as marketed by Samuel Jones from 1829 or 1830 but soon transferred to the era's friction matches generally.

Synonyms

phosphorus match friction match inclusive of safety matches
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
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