sparkler

From sparkle +‎ -er.

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

sparkler (plural sparklers)

1. Anything that sparkles.
   • 1852 March – 1853 September, Charles Dickens, Bleak House, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1853, →OCLC:

     And yet a married woman, possessing your attractions, shuts her eyes (and sparklers too), and goes and runs her delicate-formed head against a wall.

2. A hand-held firework that emits sparks.
   • 2006, Marcus Collins, Modern Love, page 258:

     The Playboy cover was of a girl in grey slacks and sandals, one hand on hip and the other waving a sparkler for Independence Day.

3. (slang) A gem or ornament that sparkles.
   • 1964, Mexican Life: Mexico's Monthly Review, volume 40, page 65:

     When the bill came, I got a side-glance at it, and hoped Rose would have to hock her sparklers to pay it.

4. A vivacious and charismatic person.
   • 2008, Robert Scott, Driven to Murder: The Blood Crimes at the Sam Donaldson Ranch:

     “As for Marilea, she was a sparkler. She was very effervescent. The family would often come out as a family unit when we were in the barnyard or the horse corral, and Marilea was just fine.”

5. (informal) A sparkling wine.
   • 1984, Sheldon Wasserman, Pauline Wasserman, Sparkling Wine, page 238:

     Irvine's white, a grape variety named for Hans Irvine, who developed the vineyards at Great Western (now owned by Seppelt), is frequently used in the Australian sparklers.

6. A tiger beetle.
7. (dated) One who scatters; especially, one who scatters money; an improvident person.