0 a small firework consisting of a tube filled with powder that makes a hissing noise when it is lit --
What we have had today has been a damp squib.
I must say that it was something of a damp squib, and that we did not rehearse this question.
The much-trumpeted deregulation initiative is a damp squib; it is a mouse.
Its intentions—to be generous to those who drew up the declaration—may have been sincere, but it has proved to be a political damp squib.
The whole thing has become a damp squib.
If there ever was a damp squib it was that, because it had no relation whatever to realities.
It is to create an explosion in our ranks, whereas, in fact, all they have been able to do is to produce a damp squib.
It is my experience that the straw just fizzles and goes out like a damp squib.
