flint

n. a hard, grey or black stone that makes a spark when you hit it against steel.

n. a hard, fine-grained variety of quartz that produces sparks when struck against steel due to the friction heating metal particles.

“Early humans used flint to make sharp arrowheads and to start their fires.”

“The archaeologist identified several fragments of worked flint, suggesting the site had been used as a tool-making workshop during the Neolithic period.”

n. the small piece of material in a cigarette lighter that creates a spark to start the flame.

n. a small cylinder of ferrocerium or similar pyrophoric alloy used in mechanical lighters to produce sparks through friction.

“My lighter has run out of gas, or perhaps the flint needs replacing.”

“He flicked the wheel of the lighter repeatedly, but the worn flint failed to produce a spark strong enough to ignite the wick.”

n. a quality of being very hard, cold, or showing no emotion.

n. a figurative reference to extreme hardness, coldness, or lack of emotion in a person's character or expression.

“There was a touch of flint in her eyes when she refused to help him.”

“The headmaster's gaze was like flint, offering no sympathy to the students who had been caught breaking the school's strictest rules.”

Literary