bomb
UK /bɒm/ · US /bɑm/ noun, verb, adjective
Forms bombs bombing bombed the Bomb
- noun An explosive device used or intended as a weapon, especially, one dropped from an aircraft.
- noun (dated, often with the) The atomic bomb. “During the Cold War, everyone worried about the bomb sometimes.”
- noun (figurative) Events or conditions that have a speedy destructive effect.
- noun (historical or archaic) A grenade, mortar shell, or artillery shell.
- noun (colloquial) Any explosive charge. “The mineworkers are setting their bombs.”
- noun (in combination) A bag or balloon containing a substance such as water, flour, or paint, designed to burst and splatter. “The children are playing with water bombs in the garden.”
- noun (colloquial, figurative) Anything that is at risk of exploding (literally) or that has exploded. “That turkey fryer is a bomb waiting to go off.”
- noun (South India, colloquial) A fart. “He just dropped a bomb.”
- verb (transitive, intransitive) To attack using one or more bombs; to bombard.
- verb (transitive, figuratively, often with with) To attack or annoy in the manner of a bombing.
- verb To jump into water in a squatting position, with the arms wrapped around the legs, in order to maximise the resulting splash.
- verb To add an excessive amount of chlorine to a pool when it has not been maintained properly.
- verb (especially with along, down, up etc.) To move at high speed. “I was bombing down the road on my motorbike.”
- verb (reflexive) To make oneself drunk.
- verb To cover an area in many graffiti tags.
- verb (ambitransitive) To fail dismally. “I totally bombed that exam.”
- adjective (slang) Great, awesome. “Have you tried the new tacos from that restaurant? They're pretty bomb!”
- noun (informal) The atomic bomb; the capacity to launch a nuclear attack. “Pakistan and India both have the Bomb now.”
Synonyms
bombshell lemon rustbucket fortune packet pretty penny garryowen up and under cannonball blow up parachute bomb calorimeter turkey dud bombard fail flunk flush it
Etymology
From French bombe, from Italian bomba, from Latin bombus (“a booming sound”), from Ancient Greek βόμβος (bómbos, “booming, humming, buzzing”), imitative of the sound itself. Doublet of bombe. Compare boom.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A great noise; a hollow sound. [Obs.]
- noun A shell; esp. a spherical shell, like those fired from mortars.
- verb To bombard. [Obs.] Prior.
- verb To sound; to boom; to make a humming or buzzing sound. [Obs.]
Etymology [F. bombe bombshell, fr. L. bombus a humming or buzzing noise, Gr. .]
Etymology [Cf. Boom.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “bomb”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details