Dictionary

tinderbox en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (General-American) audio

Etymology

From tinder + box, first use appears c. 1530, in the writings of John Palsgrave.

Meanings

1. (historical) A small container containing flint, steel, and tinder (dry, finely-divided fibrous matter), once used to help kindle a fire.
   • Just bring me the old tinderbox that my grandmother forgot the last time she went down there. 2007, Stephen Mitchell, The Tinderbox, page 5:
   • Haines helped himself and snapped the case to. He put it back in his sidepocket and took from his waistcoatpocket a nickel tinderbox, sprang it open too, and, having lit his cigarette, held the flaming spunk towards Stephen in the shell of his hands. 1922 February 2, James Joyce, “[Episode 1: Telemachus]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company […], →OCLC, part I [Telemachia], pages 19–20:
2. (broadly) A place that is so dry and hot that there is danger of fire.
   • Think of your blank journal as a tinderbox, a box for holding combustible materials, ready to catch fire when you sit down to work. 2010, L. K. Ludwig, Creative Wildfire: An Introduction to Art Journaling, page 30:
   • And then came the night that made America famous / Was it carelessness or someone's sick idea of a joke? / In the tinderbox trap that we hippies lived in, someone struck a spark 1974, Harry Chapin, “What Made America Famous”, in Verities & Balderdash:
3. (figuratively) A potentially dangerous situation.
   • This act was the "match that ignited the great tinderbox of fuel" that had been building for years between many of the countries in Europe. 2010, H. S. Haskell, Sagebrush Or Gold Dust, page 291:

Forms

Deriveds

Pig and Tinderbox

Hypernyms

box

Synonyms

powder keg (potentially dangerous situation) · powder magazine (potentially dangerous situation) · powderkeg (potentially dangerous situation)

Translations (49)

my မီးခတ် (small container containing flint, steel, and tinder) · cmn 火絨盒 /火绒盒 (small container containing flint, steel, and tinder) · udm тылкорт (small container containing flint, steel, and tinder) · ja 火口箱 (small container containing flint, steel, and tinder) · es caja de la yesca (small container containing flint, steel, and tinder) · ru огни́во (small container containing flint, steel, and tinder) · uk огни́во (small container containing flint, steel, and tinder) · da krudttønde (potentially dangerous situation) · da fyrtøj (small container containing flint, steel, and tinder) · be во́гніва (small container containing flint, steel, and tinder) · mk буре барут (potentially dangerous situation) · ru порохова́я бо́чка (potentially dangerous situation) · fr briquet (small container containing flint, steel, and tinder) · fr poudrière (potentially dangerous situation) · sv krutdurk (potentially dangerous situation) · nb fyrtøy (small container containing flint, steel, and tinder) · uk креса́ло (small container containing flint, steel, and tinder) · be краса́ла (small container containing flint, steel, and tinder) · cmn 火藥桶 /火药桶 (potentially dangerous situation) · pl pudełko na hubkę i krzesiwo (small container containing flint, steel, and tinder) · fi tuluskukkaro (small container containing flint, steel, and tinder) · gl esqueiro (small container containing flint, steel, and tinder) · ru креса́ло (small container containing flint, steel, and tinder) · uk порохова́ бо́чка (potentially dangerous situation) · ro bricheta (small container containing flint, steel, and tinder) · bg огни́во (small container containing flint, steel, and tinder) · ko 부시쌈지 (small container containing flint, steel, and tinder) · sk kresadlo (small container containing flint, steel, and tinder) · gv kishtey sponk (small container containing flint, steel, and tinder) · cs křesadlo (small container containing flint, steel, and tinder) · ca caixa d'esca (small container containing flint, steel, and tinder) · de Zunderbüchse (small container containing flint, steel, and tinder) · sv fnöskdosa (small container containing flint, steel, and tinder) · de Feuerzeug (small container containing flint, steel, and tinder) · fr boîte d'amadou (small container containing flint, steel, and tinder) · nl tondeldoos (small container containing flint, steel, and tinder) · nl kruitvat (potentially dangerous situation) · it polveriera (potentially dangerous situation) · de Pulverfass (potentially dangerous situation) · es yesquero (small container containing flint, steel, and tinder) · sv elddon (small container containing flint, steel, and tinder) · uk креси́во (small container containing flint, steel, and tinder) · be крэ́сіва (small container containing flint, steel, and tinder) · cmn 打火匣 (small container containing flint, steel, and tinder) · fi ruutitynnyri (potentially dangerous situation) · nv woolkʼą́ą́h (small container containing flint, steel, and tinder) · mk борина (small container containing flint, steel, and tinder) · pl beczka prochu (potentially dangerous situation) · es polvorín (potentially dangerous situation)

wikipedia: John Palsgrave