Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word tinderbox. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word tinderbox, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say tinderbox in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word tinderbox you have here. The definition of the word tinderbox will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition oftinderbox, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
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.
2007, Stephen Mitchell, The Tinderbox, page 5:
Just bring me the old tinderbox that my grandmother forgot the last time she went down there.
(by extension) A place that is so dry and hot that there is danger of fire.
1974, Harry Chapin (lyrics and music), “What Made America Famous”, in Verities & Balderdash:
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
2010, L. K. Ludwig, Creative Wildfire: An Introduction to Art Journaling, page 30:
Think of your blank journal as a tinderbox, a box for holding combustible materials, ready to catch fire when you sit down to work.
tinderbox on Wikipedia.Wikipedia 