Magic Smoke
Noun · Slang & Abbreviations
Definitions
The mythical smoke that supposedly makes electronics work until it escapes during catastrophic failure. In engineering slang, releasing the magic smoke means something physical has gone very wrong.
In plain English: A humorous way to describe catastrophic electronics failure.
Example: "The prototype board released its magic smoke during the power test, which ended the experiment and settled the question of whether that regulator choice had been generous enough."