spark plug

Meaning

1. The part of some internal combustion engines which forms a high-voltage electric spark which ignites the fuel-air mixture to begin the power stroke. (Petrol engines have spark plugs. Diesel engines do not have them because the heat from their high compression ratios supplies the ignition.)
2. (figuratively) Someone who is a driving force in new endeavours.
3. A rod (for cylindrical secondaries) or sphere (for spherical secondaries) of fissile material at the center of the secondary of a multistage thermonuclear weapon, which undergoes nuclear fission when compressed to supercriticality by the imploding secondary, helping to raise the secondary to the pressures and temperatures necessary to ignite nuclear fusion in the secondary's fusion fuel.

Synonyms

sparking plug

plug

cause

chic

comely

dapper

debonair

dressy

elegant

fancy

fine

fire

🔥

fuse

jaunty

natty

neat

nifty

origin

posh

pretty

prim

quaint

rakish

smart

sparking-plug

spiffy

spruce

stylish

trig

trim

well groomed

ignition plug

nobby

sparkish

heating plug

ignitor plug

battery

🔋

sparking plug

bijou

Translations

Zündkerze

bougie

bougie

🕯️

μπουζί

bujía

candela

🕯️

ontstekingsbuis

vela de ignição

bugia

candela d’accensione

candela di accensione

vela

🕯️

αναφλεκτήρας

bougie d’allumage