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

So he shifted from the powder barrel to the sharp horn of the other dilemma and shifted back again.

From Galusha the Magnificent by Lincoln, Joseph Crosby

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

It was before Billy Topsail, a lad of wits, had held a candle over the powder barrel, when the wreckers boarded the Spot Cash.

From Billy Topsail & Company A Story for Boys by Duncan, Norman