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matchstick

American  
[mach-stik] / ˈmætʃˌstɪk /

noun

  1. a short, slender piece of flammable wood used in making matches. match.

  2. something that suggests a matchstick, as in thinness or fragility.

matchstick British  
/ ˈmætʃˌstɪk /

noun

  1. the wooden part of a match

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

adjective

  1. made with or as if with matchsticks

    a matchstick model

  2. (esp of figures drawn with single strokes) thin and straight

    matchstick men
"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of matchstick

First recorded in 1785–95; match 1 + stick 1

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.