powder barrel
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
But ... the mere mention of the strategic question worked like a spark in a powder barrel.
From Time Magazine Archive
He fell in love with the wife of one of Napoleon's leading officials, imagined that that old black magic was enchanting his inamorata, that "she looked at me as though I were a powder barrel."
From Time Magazine Archive
In reality, however, our conflict with Servia was not the cause of the great war now raging, but only the spark which brought the overloaded powder barrel to explosion.
From The New York Times Current History of the European War, Vol. 1, January 9, 1915 What Americans Say to Europe by Various
Rooke"—reflectively—"always reminds me somewhat of a powder barrel.
From The Moon out of Reach by Margaret Pedler
Galusha, listening to his cousin's stories and jokes, had almost forgotten his powder barrel.
From Galusha the Magnificent by Joseph Crosby Lincoln
