grenade
/ɡɹəˈneɪd/ noun, verb
Forms grenades grenading grenaded
- noun A small explosive device, designed to be thrown by hand or launched using a rifle, grenade launcher, or rocket.
- noun (obsolete) A pomegranate.
- noun (heraldry) A charge similar to a fireball, and made of a disc-shaped bomb shell, but with only one set of flames at the top.
- noun (slang) An unattractive girl.
- verb To use grenade(s) upon.
- verb (motor racing, slang, intransitive) Of an engine: to be violently wrecked so that the internal components burst out.
Etymology
Borrowed from French grenade, from Old French grenate in the phrase pomme grenate (“pomegranate”), ultimately from Medieval Latin pōmum (“apple”) + grānātum (“having grains”). The -d developed in French under influence of Spanish granada. Doublet of garnet.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A hollow ball or shell of iron filled with powder of other explosive, ignited by means of a fuse, and thrown from the hand among enemies. Hand grenade. (a) A small grenade of iron or glass, usually about two and a half inches in diameter, to be thrown from the hand into the head of a sap, trenches, covered way, or upon besiegers mounting a breach. (b) A portable fire extinguisher consisting of a glass bottle containing water and gas. It is thrown into the flames.
Etymology [F. grenade a pomegranate, a grenade, or Sp. granada; orig., filled with seeds. So called from the resemblanse of its shape to a pomegranate. See Carnet, Grain a kernel, and cf. Pomegranate.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “grenade”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details