safety matches

Noun

safety match (plural safety matches)

1. A friction match only able to be activated by strikes against a specific kind of surface, usually by coating it with red phosphorus.
   • The invention of the Lucifer Match has brought with it many dangers. In one year, in London, there were published thirty-nine accounts of serious conflagrations through children playing with lucifers, the igniting of the matches, and the careless use of them... To guard against the recurrence of...1865, The Domestic Service Guide..., p. 223

   Synonyms:

   safety light