From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishsquibsquib /skwɪb/ noun [countable] 1 DHTa small exploding firework2 literaryAL a short amusing piece of writing that attacks someone → damp squib at damp1(2)
Examples from the Corpus
squib• The fireworks display that heralded the opening of Antwerp 93 went off like a damp squib.• The traditional Easter turkey boom - the second biggest after Christmas - was a damp squib because hard-up families bought cheaper chickens.• Readers may have thought his front page squibs came from the pen of a dominant shareholder.• The general opinion was that it had fizzled out; like a spent squib, it hadn't even given one burst.• Let Fortune writer Ronald Henkoff describe what followed: The squib demanded at least five years' experience in human resources. 