bomb

During the Cold War, everyone worried about the bomb sometimes.

An explosive device used or intended as a weapon, especially, one dropped from an aircraft.

(dated, often with the) The atomic bomb.

If Alberta’s reserves are a carbon bomb, this global expansion of tar sands and oil shale exploitation amounts to an escalating emissions arms race, the unlocking of a subterranean cache of weapons of mass ecological destruction.

2014 April 25, Martin Lukacs, “Canada becoming launch-pad of a global tar sands and oil shale frenzy”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 190, number 20, page 13:

"The hard Brexiteers have built a bomb under the UK automotive industry and the EU have lit it," they said.

2018 June 6, “Brexit: EU advises businesses not to use British components because of Theresa May's plan to leave customs union”, in The Guardian:

Mr. Gaetz’s loyalty to Mr. Trump, and willingness to toss proverbial bombs in Washington’s corridors of power, has shown no bounds, at least in public.

2024 November 14, Linda Feldmann, Henry Gass, “Trump’s eye-popping Cabinet picks show his top priority: Loyalty”, in The Christian Science Monitor:

(figurative) Events or conditions that have a speedy destructive effect.

And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air / Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there

1814, “The Star-Spangled Banner”, Francis Scott Key (lyrics), John Stafford Smith (music):

(historical, archaic) Ellipsis of bomb ship.

The size of the ground hole crater from the blast indicates it was a bomb.

2008, Sidney Gelb, Foreign Service Agent, page 629:

box-office bomb

Projection problems plagued Countess’ London premiere on January 5, 1967, Jerry Epstein recalled, and it was perhaps an omen, for reaction by critics afterward was swift and immediate: The film was a bomb.

1997, Eric L. Flom, Chaplin in the Sound Era: An Analysis of the Seven Talkies, page 277:

The movie was a bomb and so was my next film, Balboa, in which I played a scheming real estate tycoon.

2010, Tony Curtis, Peter Golenbock, American Prince: My Autobiography, unnumbered page:

The movie was a bomb, but it put the band before an even larger audience.

2011, Elizabeth Barfoot Christian, Rock Brands: Selling Sound in a Media Saturated Culture, page 11:

(slang) A failure; an unpopular commercial product.

A failure; an unpopular commercial product.

Nowadays, an old bomb simply won’t pass the inspection.

2005 August 6, “Warm affection for a rust-bucket past”, in Sydney Morning Herald:

We′ve got the money and it just feels ridiculous to let you drive around in that old bomb.

2010, Rebecca James, Beautiful Malice, page 19:

After two weeks of driving it she knew the car was a bomb and she did not need anyone saying it to her. The only one allowed to pick on her car was her. Piece of crap car[…]

2011, Amarinda Jones, Seducing Celestine, page 49:

(US, Australia, informal) A car in poor condition.

make a bomb

cost a bomb

When Kiley presented Blackpool with the custom shotgun, he said, “This must′ve cost a bomb.”

2009, Matthew Vierling, The Blizzard, page 133:

'You′ve already spent a bomb!'
'Not on it, Sal — under it. Presents!' As we eventually staggered up to bed, Sally said to me, 'I hope to God he's not been spending a bomb on presents, too.[…]'

The kids cost a bomb to feed, they eat all the time.

2011, Michael R. Häack, Passport: A Novel of International Intrigue, page 47:

2011, Bibe, A Victim, page 38,
He had recently exchanged his old bike for a new, three speed racer, which cost a bomb and the weekly payment were becoming difficult, with the dangers of repossession.

(UK, Australia, slang) A large amount of money.

Our fabulous new crumpets have been selling like a bomb.

(social) Something highly effective or attractive.

(chiefly British, slang) A success; the bomb.

Something highly effective or attractive.

(chiefly British, India, slang) A very attractive woman.

It was an ordinary speech, until the president dropped a bomb: he would be retiring for medical reasons.

(often in combination) An action or statement that causes a strong reaction.

Normally very controlled, he dropped the F-bomb and cursed the paparazzi.

An obscene word identified by its first letter.

An obscene word identified by its first letter.

(American football, slang) A long forward pass.

(rugby, soccer, slang) A high kick that sends the ball relatively straight up so players can get under it before it comes down.

With five seconds remaining, Smith received the inbounds pass and launched a bomb that dropped through the net to give his team an 80-79 victory.

2013, Brett L. Abrams, Raphael Mazzone, The Bullets, the Wizards, and Washington, DC, Basketball, page 163:

(basketball, slang) A throw into the basket from a considerable distance.

A bomb for this study is defined as one in which the deepening rate is the geostrophic equivalent of at least 12 mb in 12 h at 45ºN.

1980 October, Frederick Sanders with John R. Gyakum, “Synoptic-dynamic climatology of the 'bomb'”, in Monthly Weather Review, volume 108, number 10, page 1596:

A cyclone whose central pressure drops at an average rate of at least one millibar per hour for at least 24 hours.

The process consisted in preparing the metal by metallothermic reduction of titanium tetrachloride with sodium metal in a steel bomb.

2008, François Cardarelli, Materials Handbook: A Concise Desktop Reference, page 276:

(chemistry) A heavy-walled container designed to permit chemical reactions under high pressure.

a Pillar of Iron […] Which if you had ſtrucke […] it would make a great Bombe in the Chamber beneath.

1627 (indicated as 1626), Francis [Bacon], “II. Century.”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], London: […] William Rawley […]; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], →OCLC, paragraph 151, page 47:

(obsolete) A great booming noise; a hollow sound.

professional wrestling
professional wrestling

(professional wrestling) A professional wrestling throw in which an opponent is lifted and then slammed back-first down to the mat.

(slang) A recreational drug ground up, wrapped, and swallowed.

In clear contravention of the International Code of Conduct for Swimming Baths, a teenager had entered the pool by performing a bomb.

2016, Steve Coogan, Neil Gibbons & Rob Gibbons, Alan Partridge: Nomad, page 45:

(colloquial) An act of jumping into water while keeping one's arms and legs tucked into the body, as in a squatting position, to maximize splashing.

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.

onomatopoeic

imitative


bomb

2000, Canadian Peace Research Institute, Canadian Peace Research and Education Association, Peace Research, Volumes 32-33, page 65,
15 May: US jets bombed air-defence sites north of Mosul, as the Russian Foreign Ministry accused the US and Britain of intentionally bombing civilian targets. (AP)

Italy had bombed cities in the Ethiopian war; Italy and Germany had bombed civilians in the Spanish Civil War; at the start of World War II German planes dropped bombs on Rotterdam in Holland, Coventry in England, and elsewhere.

2005, Howard Zinn, A People's History of the United States: 1492-Present, page 421:

Essendon was bombed in the early hours of 3 September 1916; a few houses and part of the church were destroyed, and two sisters killed.

2007, David Parker, Hertfordshire Children in War and Peace, 1914-1939, page 59:

Dr. Ngo: Did you ever find out where the smugglers were smuggling from?

2022 September 9, HarryBlank, “The Mausoleum at Ipperwash”, in SCP Foundation, archived from the original on 2024-05-27:

(transitive, intransitive) To attack using one or more bombs; to bombard.

School days have been missed or cut short many times to accommodate soccer travel through the years, but this return felt different. Photos posted on his social media documenting the experience were seen by classmates, many of whom bombed him with questions about his future in the sport.

2022 May 7, Ray Brewer, “Henderson native takes another step toward his soccer dreams with spot on Lights' roster”, in Las Vegas Sun:

(transitive, figuratively, often with with) To attack or annoy in the manner of a bombing.

To jump into water in a squatting position, with the arms wrapped around the legs, in order to maximise the resulting splash.

To add an excessive amount of chlorine to a pool when it has not been maintained properly.

I was bombing down the road on my motorbike.

(especially with along, down, up etc.) To move at high speed.

The calendar was selling Moctezuma beer, so I had one of them in her honor while Murray bombed himself with the mezcal.

1985, Pete Hamill, Dirty Laundry, page 97:

TED: The champagne you ordered, sir.
MAN: No time for this. Leave it on ice.
WIFE: But I want some now...
MAN: There'll be plenty for you at the party, baby, you can bomb yourself all you want at the party.

(slang)
(reflexive) To make oneself drunk.

It is often used to collect other writer's tags, and future plans for bombing and piecing.

2009, Scape Martinez, GRAFF: The Art & Technique of Graffiti, page 124:

(slang)
To cover an area in many graffiti tags.

I totally bombed that exam.

The nondiscrimination measures bombed at the polls, losing 18 percent to 82 percent. One gay activist in the city told GCN, "We got whupped."

1985 February 2, Sue Hyde, “Houston Gay Rights Squashed in Referendum”, in Gay Community News, volume 12, number 28, page 1:

So Hall quit the job, turned in the company car and went to Chicago, where as a stand-up comic he bombed several times before he was discovered by Nancy Wilson, who took him on the road — where he bombed again before a room of Republicans—and then to Los Angeles.

1992 June, Lynn Norment, “Arsenio Hall: Claiming the Late-night Crown”, in Ebony, page 74:

2000, Carmen Infantino, Jon B. Cooke (interviewer), The Carmen Infantino Interview, in Jon B. Cooke, Neal Adams, Comic Book Artist Collection, page 12,
Carmen: […] Then it bombed and it bombed badly. After a few more issues I asked Mike what was happening and he said, “I′m trying everything I can but it′s just not working.” So I took him off the book and he left. That was it.

She was the reason why he bombed the interview. He just couldn′t seem to get her out of his mind.

2008, Erik Sternberger, The Long and Winding Road, page 62:

(transitive, intransitive) To fail dismally.

When things weren't going Alison's way at work — some editor wanted something changed or her computer bombed again — she'd cuss and yell at whoever happened to be in the way.

2001, Janet Holm McHenry, Girlfriend Gatherings: Creative Ways to Stay Connected, page 28:

(slang)
(intransitive, computing) To crash.

(transitive, slang) To make a smelly mess in (a toilet).

What over-charged piece of melancholie / Is this, breakes in betweene my wishes thus, / With bombing sighs?

1625, Ben Jonson, The Fortunate Isles and Their Union:

(obsolete) To sound; to boom; to make a humming or buzzing sound.

(slang) Synonym of parachute (“wrap illicit drugs in a covering before swallowing them”)

en-verb

bomb (third-person singular simple present bombs, present participle bombing, simple past and past participle bombed)

bombs (present singular third-person)
bombing (participle present)
bombed (participle past)
bombed (past)

eine Arschbombe machen

to jump into water in a squatting position

onomatopoeic

imitative


bomb

Have you tried the new tacos from that restaurant? They're pretty bomb!

en-adj

bomb (comparative more bomb, superlative most bomb)

more bomb (comparative)
most bomb (superlative)

onomatopoeic

imitative


bomb

bombplan som fäller / släpper bomber

Nyheten slog ner som en bomb

The news dropped [struck] like a bombshell

bomb (indefinite nominative singular)
bombs (genitive indefinite singular)
bomben (definite nominative singular)
bombens (definite genitive singular)
bomber (indefinite nominative plural)
bombers (genitive indefinite plural)
bomberna (definite nominative plural)
bombernas (definite genitive plural)