bomb

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

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

(historical, archaic) Ellipsis of bomb ship.


mine

From Middle English, from Old French mine, from Late Latin mina, from Gaulish (compare to Welsh mwyn, Irish mianach (“ore”)), from Proto-Celtic *meinis (“ore, metal”).

The most famous mine of the American Civil War led to the Battle of the Crater.

en:excavation for explosives under or near enemy lines

(military) A passage dug toward or underneath enemy lines, which is then packed with explosives.

минно поле

military: passage packed with explosives


RPG

Initialism. When applied to a "rocket-propelled grenade" it derives from Russian РПГ (RPG), initialism of ручной противотанковый гранатомёт (ručnoj protivotankovyj granatomjót, “hand-held anti-tank grenade launcher”), of which "rocket-propelled grenade" is a backronym (though an accurate description of the weapon system).

Report Program Generator
w:Report Program Generator

(computing) Initialism of Report Program Generator.


nuke

Clipping of nuclear weapon. The verb is derived from the noun.

(colloquial) vessel running on nuclear power

Confronted with the threat of several nukes on the island, we soon realized that the Long Island Sound is being used as a massive cooling basin for nuclear reactors.

1979, Anna Gyorgy et al., “Atomic Power, Nuclear Plants”, in No Nukes: Everyone’s Guide to Nuclear Power (Black Rose Books; no. I.49), Montreal, Que.: Black Rose Books, →ISBN, page 406:

Nukes Don't Pollute

2002, Home Power - Issues 86-91, page 121:

He calculates that nukes might be needed to power energy-intensive “large scale co2 sequestration techniques” as well.

2010, Andrew Nikiforuk, Tar Sands: Dirty Oil and the Future of a Continent, page 155:

We've analyzed employee manifests at all nukes, LNG, and refineries in the United States for Middle Eastern profile matches.

nuclear power station
nuclear power station


frag

Police up your extra ammo and frags, don't leave nothing for the dinks.

1986, Oliver Stone, Platoon, spoken by Sergeant Elias (Willem Dafoe):

fragmentation grenade
fragmentation grenade

(military slang) A fragmentation grenade.


A-bomb

en-verb

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

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


blow off

blow off (third-person singular simple present blows off, present participle blowing off, simple past blew off, past participle blown off)

blows off (present singular third-person)
blowing off (participle present)
blew off (past)
blown off (participle past)

She blew the dust off the cookbook, revealing its full title.

In order to deal with deposits of soot on boiler-tubes while running, especially if poor coal is in use, locomotives are often now provided with blowers on the firebox back-plate which can be made to discharge a jet of high pressure steam towards the firebox tubeplates; this has the effect of loosening and blowing off the soot deposits.

1944 May and June, “The Why and the Wherefore: Locomotive Soot Blowers”, in Railway Magazine, page 194:

A noteworthy engineering feature on this line was the Owencarrow Viaduct, situated in one of the most windswept portions of the line. On January 30, 1925, a train was blown off the viaduct during a gale, and thereafter trains were prohibited from crossing when the wind exceeded a certain velocity.

1953 October, H. C. Casserley, “Closure of the Londonderry & Lough Swilly Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 703:

(transitive, literally) To remove something by blowing on it.

The engine or steamer is blowing off.

The 1 in 200 climb to Survilliers was surmounted with easy competence, the constant speed being just short of 60 m.p.h., the water level (by design) just under half a glass and the steam pressure approximately 275 lb/sq in, or near the blowing-off point.

1961 March, ""Balmore"", “Driving and firing modern French steam locomotives”, in Trains Illustrated, page 146:

(intransitive) To let steam escape through a passage provided for the purpose.

Please avoid blowing off while we're in church.

(intransitive, euphemistic, UK, Australia) Synonym of fart.

(idiomatic) To shirk or disregard (a duty or person).

(transitive) To reject or shut down someone's sexual advances or other offers (e.g. a job offer).

Her leg was blown off by a landmine.

(transitive) To forcibly disconnect something by use of a firearm or explosive device.


charge

en-noun

charge (countable and uncountable, plural charges)

From Middle English chargen, from Old French chargier, from Late Latin carricō (“to load”), from Latin carrus (“a car, wagon”); see car. Doublet of cargo.

Watt might have broken the door down, with an axe, or a crow, or a small charge of explosive, but this might have aroused Erskine's suspicions, and Watt did not want that.

1953, Samuel Beckett, Watt, [Paris]: Olympia Press, →OCLC:

(by extension) A measured amount of explosive.


charge

en-verb

charge (third-person singular simple present charges, present participle charging, simple past and past participle charged)

charges (present singular third-person)
charging (participle present)
charged (participle past)
charged (past)

desc

→ Cantonese: 叉廚 /叉厨 (caa¹ cyu⁴), 叉 (caa¹)

→ Dutch: chargen

→ Kashubian: czardżowac (United States)

→ Malay: caj, cas

→ Sranan Tongo: tyars

→ Swahili: chaji

yükləmək

to place a burden upon, to assign a duty

yükləmək

to load equipment with material required for its use

to charge me to an answer

c. 1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Iohn”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:


TNT

All senses by acronymy or initialism formation or by metonymic relation thereto. The third sense is an initialism of the Tagalog phrase, tago nang tago (literally, “hide and hide”).

Turner Network Television
w:TNT (TV channel)

Initialism of Turner Network Television, a U.S. television channel.


trinitrotoluene

en-noun

trinitrotoluene (countable and uncountable, plural trinitrotoluenes)

A highly explosive yellow crystalline substance, (CH₃C₆H₂(NO₂)₃), obtained by reacting nitric acid with toluene.

trinitrotoluol

a highly explosive yellow crystalline substance


firecracker

firecrackers (plural)
fire-cracker (alternative)

/ˈfaɪəˌkɹækə/

/ˈfaɪəɹˌkɹækəɹ/

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-firecracker.wav

She said she was awakened abruptly Friday night by the kid next door setting off a firecracker.

2011, Ken Casper, As the Crow Dies, page 120:

A small explosive device, typically containing a small amount of gunpowder in a tightly-wound roll of paper, primarily designed to produce a large bang.

Jude Bellingham became the nation’s second youngest World Cup scorer behind Michael Owen when he started the rout – the centrepiece of a performance of power, skill and precision – while Bukayo Saka deserved his two goals, the first a firecracker, as he radiated menace with his every involvement.

2022 November 21, David Hytner, “England open World Cup in style with Bukayo Saka double in 6-2 rout of Iran”, in The Guardian:

(slang) An individual who is quick-tempered, rambunctious, or unpredictable.


firework

Commercial firework displays are commonly launched from boats or other vessels

Saltpetre being the principal ingredient in fireworks, and a volatile body, by reaſon of its aqueous and aërial parts, is eaſily rarified by fire; but not ſo ſoon when foul and groſs, as when purified from its crude and earthy parts, which greatly retard its velocity: therefore, when any quantity of Fireworks are to be made, it ſhould be examined; for if it is not well cleanſed, and of a good ſort, your works will not have their proper effect; […]

1776, Robert Jones, John Muller, “Sect. I. Saltpetre.”, in Artificial Fireworks, Improved to the Modern Practice, from the Minutest to the Highest Branches; … Also, Mr. Muller's Fireworks, for Sea and Land Service, …, 2nd corr. edition, London: Printed for J. Millan, near Whitehall, →OCLC, page 1:

A device using gunpowder and other chemicals which, when lit, emits a combination of coloured flames, sparks, whistles or bangs, and sometimes made to rocket high into the sky before exploding, used for entertainment or celebration.


bombshell

Diana Dors, the 1950s blonde bombshell

The singer once identified by her shock of green hair has gone blonde and full bombshell, swapping her trademark sweats for a style more domme than deb: pink Gucci corset and skirt over Agent Provocateur skivvies, accessorized with latex gloves and leggings.

2021 May 4, Ruth La Ferla, “On That Bombshell Billie Eilish Cover for British Vogue”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

(by extension) Someone who is very attractive; a sex symbol.


explosive

en-adj

explosive (comparative more explosive, superlative most explosive)

more explosive (comparative)
most explosive (superlative)

From Latin explōs-, stem of the perfect passive participle of explōdō + the suffix -ive.

Notes: A rule set that (very probably) results in explosive growth; certainly in area if not population.

1992 June 2, Dave Boll, “Variations on Conway's LIFE”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

For example, putting a 1 at (0: 1,1) will cause explosive growth in all directions, putting a 1 at (0: 0,2A) will cause pairs of diagonal cells in a 2x2 square to alternate on and off, putting a 1 at (1: 4,4) will cause all solid 1 areas to stay 1 for another cycle, etc.

1994 April 4, Robert Andreen, “CA rules”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

If the rule is further chosen so that active cells can (and must) expand on an inactive background but inactive cells can't do so on an active background (or vice versa), then non-explosive growth becomes possible.

2003 May 12, Ilmari Karonen, “Gliders in 4-neighbor semitotalistic 2D cellular automata”, in comp.theory.cell-automata (Usenet):

en:like an explosion, e.g., of a fast fire

(cellular automata) Of a specific cellular automaton rule, tending to exhibit infinite and unpredictable growth when starting from finite random patterns.


banger

→ Estonian: bänger

→ Finnish: bängeri

From bang + -er. The sausages were so called because of their excess water content and impervious skin, leading to the risk of explosion if not punctured before cooking.

He is also a former international chick banger.

2008, Dewan Gibson, The Imperfect Enjoyment, page 177:

A thing or person which bangs, in any sense.

(sexuality, slang) A person who has sex.

(automotive, slang) An old, worn-out car. From a stereotypical one backfiring, making banging noises.


the bomb

en-noun

the bomb (usually uncountable, plural the bombs)

the bombs (plural)
da bomb (alternative)

Attested in reference to nuclear weapons or the capacity to use them since 1932; see quotations, below. As slang for something excellent, the phrase is attested since the 1960s; compare go down a bomb, UK theatre slang during the 1950s meaning “be a major success”. For further etymology see bomb.

Pakistan and India both have the Bomb now.

The Cabinet, when faced with this proffered omnipotence, had recoiled in fear. True it was that their acute distaste for the bomb[…] did credit to their humanity, to their state of civilization.

1932, Harold Nicolson, “Public Faces”, in The Spectator, volume 149, page 558:

In my view, the tensions which have produced the “World with the Bomb” can be divided into roughly four classes.

1962, Kwame Nkruma, The World Without the Bomb: Selections from the Papers of “the Accra Assembly”, page 3:

First we got the bomb and that was good,
'Cause we love peace and motherhood.
Then Russia got the bomb, but that's O.K.,
'Cause the balance of power's maintained that way!

1965, Tom Lehrer, “Who's Next” (track 5, side 2), in That Was The Year That Was:

(informal, often capitalized) The atomic bomb; the capability to launch a nuclear attack.


car bomb

An automobile laden with a large amount of explosives, and used as a bomb primarily in order to cause external damage.


claymore

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-claymore.wav

Alternative letter-case form of Claymore (“antipersonnel mine”).


gunpowder

gunpowder (countable and uncountable, plural gunpowders)

/ˈɡʌnˌpaʊdə/

/ˈɡʌnˌpaʊdɚ/


semtex

Genericized trademark Semtex, derived from the Czech name of the suburb of Pardubice where it was manufactured, Semtín, and ex(plosive).

A highly malleable general-purpose plastic explosive.


Molotov cocktail

Molotov cocktail (plural Molotov cocktails)

Molotov cocktails (plural)
Molotoff cocktail (alternative)
molotov cocktail (alternative)
Molotov's cocktail (alternative)

Calque of Finnish Molotovin koktaili. Coined in Finland during the Winter War of 1939–40 between Finland and the Soviet Union, and named after then-Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov (1890–1986), who claimed the bombs the Soviet Union dropped on Finland were "airborne humanitarian food deliveries", prompting Finns to say their firebombs were "Molotov cocktails" (a drink to go with his food deliveries).

The site, which appears in the wake of anti-Elon Musk protests across the country, displays names, addresses, and phone numbers of Tesla owners on an interactive map and uses an image of a Molotov cocktail as its cursor. […] In one incident in Las Vegas, an individual dressed in black used Molotov cocktails to ignite five Tesla vehicles at a service center.

2025 March 19, Dan Cody, “What Is Dogequest? Website Exposes Tesla Owners' Personal Data”, in Newsweek:

A crude incendiary bomb made from a glass bottle, either filled with a flammable liquid such as petroleum and supplied with a rag for a fuse that is lit just before being hurled, or filled with such a mix of flammable liquids that it ignites itself when it is smashed and its contents are exposed to air.


hydrogen bomb

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-hydrogen bomb.wav

A thermonuclear bomb that derives its destructive power from the fusion of isotopes of hydrogen (deuterium and tritium).


dynamite

en-verb

dynamite (third-person singular simple present dynamites, present participle dynamiting, simple past and past participle dynamited)

dynamites (present singular third-person)
dynamiting (participle present)
dynamited (participle past)
dynamited (past)

Coined by Alfred Nobel in 1867. Ultimately from Ancient Greek δύναμις (dúnamis, “power”) + -ite, most likely under the influence of dynamo or dynamic.

der

Gradually the construction gangs cut and dynamited their way through some of the most difficult country in the world.

1954 February, Trevor Holloway, “Canada's Transcontinental Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 128:

[...] on Sunday, August 23, the L.N.W.R. tunnel was closed to enable the old brickwork to be dynamited away, traffic being diverted meanwhile through the M.R. tunnel.

1960 February, R. C. Riley, “The London-Birmingham services - Past, Present and Future”, in Trains Illustrated, page 101:

To blow up with dynamite or other high explosive.

dinamitar

to blow up with dynamite or other high explosive


nitroglycerine

en-noun

nitroglycerine (usually uncountable, plural nitroglycerines)

(organic chemistry) The compound glyceryl-tri-nitrate or 1,2,3 tri-nitrooxy propane; the ester of glycerol with nitric acid; prepared by the careful addition of a mixture of nitric and sulphuric acids to glycerol with constant stirring and cooling; it is a thick, pale yellow liquid, that is highly explosive on concussion or on exposure to sudden heat; it is used in medicine as a vasodilator, and as an explosive in the form of dynamite which is safe to handle.


cordite

cordite (countable and uncountable, plural cordites)

From cord + -ite, because the material is manufactured into long cordlike cylinders.

A smokeless propellent made by combining two high explosives, nitrocellulose and nitroglycerine, used in some firearm ammunition.

線狀無煙火藥 /线状无烟火药

a smokeless propellent used in some firearm ammunition


warhead

From war + head, originally to distinguish a live war head of a torpedo from an inert exercise head.

"Multi Bottle Rocket". Possibly the strongest weapon around, it does a lot of damage due to its massive warhead.

1995, HAL Laboratory, EarthBound, Nintendo, Super Nintendo Entertainment System:

The part of a missile, projectile, torpedo, rocket, or other munition which contains either the nuclear or thermonuclear system, high explosive system, chemical or biological agents, or inert materials intended to inflict damage.


ICBM

Just sing out a Te Deum / When you see that ICBM / And the party will be come-as-you-are

1959, “We Will All Go Together When We Go”, in Tom Lehrer (music), An Evening Wasted with Tom Lehrer, performed by Tom Lehrer:

Iraq could test a North Korean-type ICBM that could deliver a several-hundred-kilogram payload to the United States in the last half of the next decade [the decade beginning with calendar year 2000] depending on the level of foreign assistance.

2002, Alexander T. Lennon, Contemporary Nuclear Debates: Missile Defense, Arms Control, and Arms Races in the Twenty-first Century, MIT Press, →ISBN:

(weaponry) Initialism of intercontinental ballistic missile.

МКБР

abbreviation of intercontinental ballistic missile


IED

IED (countable and uncountable, plural IEDs)

intermittent explosive disorder
intermittent explosive disorder#English

(medicine) Initialism of intermittent explosive disorder.


blockbuster

→ Catalan: blockbuster

→ French: blockbuster

→ German: Blockbuster

→ Italian: blockbuster

→ Japanese: ブロックバスター (burokubasutā)

→ Korean: 블록버스터 (beullokbeoseuteo)

→ Polish: blockbuster

→ Portuguese: blockbuster

→ Russian: блокба́стер (blokbástɛr)

→ Spanish: blockbuster

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-blockbuster.wav

From block + buster, referring originally to aerial bombs capable of destroying a whole block of buildings.

A high-explosive bomb used for the purposes of demolishing extensive areas, such as a city block.


pipe bomb

pipe bombs (plural)
pipebomb (alternative)

An improvised explosive device consisting of blasting powder or other explosive material encased in a metal pipe to increase the blast effect.

pijpbom

explosive device consisting of blasting powder or other explosive encased in a metal pipe


cluster bomb

Bellingcat[…] has reviewed some of the pictures collected by the Guardian, confirmed the presence of tail fins of RBK-500 cluster bombs with PTAB-1M submunitions and cluster rocket, launched by BM-30 Smerch.

2022 April 21, Lorenzo Tondo, “Russia using cluster bombs to kill Ukrainian civilians, analysis suggests”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

An explosive munition designed to explode in the air and release a cluster of smaller explosives, thus spreading the blast over a larger area.


dirty bomb

Without providing evidence, Shoigu said Ukraine could escalate by using a “dirty bomb” – conventional explosives laced with radioactive material.

2022 October 24, Peter Beaumont, “Ukraine war heading for ‘uncontrolled escalation’, says Russia”, in The Guardian:

A device containing conventional explosives and radioactive material, designed to spread radiation over a wide area.


beeline

beelines (plural)
bee-line (alternative)

From bee + line, due to the belief that a bee returns to its hive in a straight course, originally an Americanism.

(mining, chiefly historical) A dynamite fuse made with a small quantity of dynamite powder along its length, so that the spark travels quickly and at a specific known rate.

тура һауа юлы

straight course, ignoring established paths of travel


nitro

nitro (countable and uncountable, plural nitros)

(uncountable, chemistry) the univalent NO₂ functional group.

(uncountable, informal) nitroglycerin, especially as medication.

8 April 2018 Chomp Squad, "You Can Handel It"
Blaze, set the blasters to liquid nitro! We're gonna freeze this lava before it flows any further.

(uncountable, informal) nitrogen, especially as liquid nitrogen.


neutron bomb

An atomic bomb that produces a greater amount of neutrons, and a lesser amount of blast; the intention being to create equal lethal neutron radiation and blast radii which increases the effectiveness of the weapon against armour while reducing collateral damage.


high explosive

Having completed their task, Fireman Page telephoned from a lineside box to the next signal cabin, briefly reported the incident and said that, as no high explosive had dropped and the track was safe, they proposed proceeding "at caution".

1944 July and August, “Top Link Drivers: XXI—Driver H. Blunt, L.N.E.R.”, in Railway Magazine, page 226:

But signalman Bridges was never to answer driver Gimbert's desperate question. A deafening, massive blast blew the wagon to shreds, the 44 high-explosive bombs exploding like simultaneous hits from the aircraft they should have been dropped from. The station was instantly reduced to bits of debris, and the line to a huge crater.

2022 January 12, Benedict le Vay, “The heroes of Soham...”, in RAIL, number 948, page 43:

A chemical explosive capable of detonation rather than solely of deflagration; a chemical explosive capable of reacting at a sufficiently-fast rate to produce a shock wave which propagates the reaction throughout the explosive mass; a chemical explosive capable of producing an explosion even when unconfined.


squib

Possibly imitative of a small explosion.

unk

Possibly

(film, theater) In special effects, a small explosive used to replicate a bullet hitting a surface or a gunshot wound on an actor.


Little Boy

The nuclear bomb dropped over Hiroshima, Japan on August 6, 1945.


Fat Man

The nuclear bomb dropped over Nagasaki, Japan on August 9, 1945.


rocket-propelled grenade

en-noun

rocket-propelled grenade (plural rocket-propelled grenades)

rocket-propelled grenades (plural)
rocket propelled grenade (alternative)

A modern hand-held weapons system, comprising a launcher that fires a small explosive rocket.

火箭筒

hand-held weapon that fires a small explosive rocket


ballistic missile

ballistic missile (plural ballistic missiles)

(military, astronautics) A missile that is initially guided, but then follows a ballistic (freely falling) trajectory.


grenade

Borrowed from French grenade, from Old French grenate in the phrase pomme grenate (“pomegranate”), ultimately from Medieval Latin pomum (“apple”) + granatum (“having grains”). The -d developed in French under influence of Spanish granada. Doublet of garnet.

A small explosive device, designed to be thrown by hand or launched using a rifle, grenade launcher, or rocket.

лимо́нка

certain models, especially shaped as a lemon

ระเบิดมือ

rá-bə̀ət-mʉʉ


atomic bomb

H. G. Wells
The World Set Free
atomic bomb

Coined by British science fiction author H. G. Wells in his 1914 novel The World Set Free.

Nine different countries have the atomic bomb as of 2022.

(uncountable, colloquial, with the) The possession of one or more atomic bombs; the ability to launch a nuclear attack.


nuclear weapon

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-nuclear weapon.wav

When Kissinger went to Moscow on March 24 for four days of talks aimed at setting the agenda for Summit III, he reported that Brezhnev seemed to be confronting some of the same problems as we were of military opposition to a permanent agreement to limit offensive nuclear weapons. Thus we knew from the outset that it would be very difficult to produce a major SALT breakthrough at Summit III.

1978, Richard Nixon, “The Presidency 1973-1974”, in RN: the Memoirs of Richard Nixon, Grosset & Dunlap, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 1024:

Even if they managed to strike Japan, the United States or South Korea with nuclear weapons — a big if, given that they do not have a reliable delivery system — they could not save themselves from ultimate defeat.

2013 April 9, Andrei Lankov, “Stay Cool. Call North Korea’s Bluff.”, in New York Times:

A weapon that derives its energy from the nuclear reactions of either fission or fusion.

armë bërthamore

a weapon that derives its energy from the nuclear reactions of either fission or fusion


nuclear bomb

In the seaside town that they forgot to bomb / Come, come, come, nuclear bomb

1988, Morrissey, “Everyday Is Like Sunday”, in Viva Hate:

Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki


depth charge

Synonym of bomb shot (“type of mixed drink”).


firebomb

en-verb

firebomb (third-person singular simple present firebombs, present participle firebombing, simple past and past participle firebombed)

firebombs (present singular third-person)
firebombing (participle present)
firebombed (participle past)
firebombed (past)

The rioters firebombed the parked car.

A GOP office in Hillsborough, North Carolina, was firebombed over the weekend, with a swastika and the words “Nazi Republicans leave town or else” spray painted on an adjacent building, according to local officials.

2016 October 16, Eric Bradner and Adrienne Shih, “Local GOP office in North Carolina firebombed”, in CNN:

The next week when they firebombed the Satin Room, one of Chink Montagueʼs after-hours joints, Carney assumed the mobsters were embroiled in another war.

2023, Colson Whitehead, Crook Manifesto, Fleet, page 100:

On Tuesday, a masked man used molotov cocktails to firebomb a Tesla dealership in Las Vegas before firing rounds into the burning vehicles.

2025 March 19, Tom Sanders, “Anti-Musk Hackers Share Names and Addresses of Tesla Owners”, in The Daily Beast:


time bomb

time bombs (plural)
timebomb (alternative)
time-bomb (alternative)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-time bomb.wav

Even so, they managed to morph the recent European parliamentary elections into a time bomb and plant it under their country’s own future.

2014 June 6, Françoise Fressoz, “France’s Ticking Time Bomb”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

Someone must explain to Sunak about the time bomb ticking beneath his £1,000 loafers.

2023 May 31, Nigel Harris, “Comment: GBR now! We have no Plan B”, in RAIL, number 984, page 3:

The pandemic preparation timebomb detonated to devastating effect; a number of other timebombs are on the shortest of fuses. The government has now reached a state of perfect vicious cycle, when the only thing worse than the things it does are all the things it didn’t get round to doing.

2023 June 30, Marina Hyde, “The tide is coming in fast on Rishi Sunak – and it’s full of sewage”, in The Guardian:

(figuratively) A situation that threatens to have disastrous consequences at some future time.


improvised explosive device

en-noun

improvised explosive device (plural improvised explosive devices)

improvised explosive devices (plural)
IED (alternative)

As a descriptive term, appearing in the early 20th century. In the narrower sense describing weapons of irregulars and terrorists, popularized in the British Army during the Troubles and in the US during the Iraq War.

An unconventional or amateur explosive weapon made from nonmilitary components, especially one used by guerrillas, commandos or terrorists.

unkonventionelle Spreng- und Brandvorrichtung


roadside bomb

An explosive device placed at the side of a road and detonated when the target passes.


plastique

plastique (countable and uncountable, plural plastiques)

From French plastique. Doublet of plastic.

(dated, uncountable) A plastic explosive.


ammonal

Our greatest trial was the German canister. It was a two-gallon drum with a cylinder containing about two pounds of an explosive called ammonal that looked like salmon paste, smelled like marzipan, and when it went off sounded like the Day of judgment.

1929 November, Robert Graves, chapter XVIII, in Good-bye to All That: An Autobiography, London: Jonathan Cape […], →OCLC, page 246:

An explosive made up of ammonium nitrate, trinitrotoluene, and aluminium powder.


brisant

The use of gun-cotton proper (trinitrocellulose) could not be thought of, owing to the brisant action of this body, but it was found that collodion-wool (dinitrocellulose, soluble gun-cotton), which was less brisant, could be converted into a nearly homogeneous mass which satisfied many of the requirements of a smoke-free powder, but it was still so brisant when used alone as to produce too high gas pressures and too irregular initial velocities.

1893, Charles E. Munroe, Notes on the Literature of Explosives, No. XXIII: Proceedings of the United States Naval Institute, Volume 18, page 123:

1959, Mitchel H. Bertram, William V. Feller, Memorandum 5-24-59L: A Simple Method for Determining Heat Transfer, Skin Friction, and Boundary-Layer Thickness for Hypersonic Laminar Boundary-Layer Flows in a Pressure Gradient, NASA, 5,
At the start of the run a shattering or "brisant" detonation occurred in the line between the oxidant control valve (number 5, fig. 2(a)) and the oxidant tank. […] The propellant tank showed evidence of high internal pressure but no brisant detonation.

Two charges should be used: a cratering charge, and a small charge of a brisant explosive.

1962, NAVWEPS OP [Ordnance Pamphlet] 2212: Demolition Materials, Bureau of Naval Weapons, pages 6–12:

It is highly brisant with a VoD of 7300 ms-1 at a charge density of approximately 1.5 g cm-3.

2016, Materials Analysis in Forensic Science:

(of an explosion or explosive) Having a shattering effect.


nuclear deterrent

nuclear deterrent (plural nuclear deterrents)

The arsenal of nuclear weapons of a nation viewed as a deterrent to an enemy from attacking.

核威懾 /核威慑

Nuclear weapons viewed as a deterrent to an enemy from attacking


atom bomb

Everywhere the atom bombs are dropping / It's the end of all humanity / No more time for last-minute shopping / It's time to face your final destiny

1986, "Weird Al" Yankovic, “Christmas at Ground Zero”, in Polka Party!:


mail bomb

An explosive device sent through the post; a letter bomb or parcel bomb.


nitroglycerin

nitroglycerin (usually uncountable, plural nitroglycerins)

Officials in San Bernardino, California, report what is feared to be one of the most uneradicable dangers to gay people yet: the armoured crab. Armoured crabs […] are impervious to not only traditional commercial remedies but to unorthodox cures as well, such as sand blasting, nitroglycerin, and plastic surgery.

1977 April 2, “Giant Crabs Infest West Coast”, in Gay Community News, page 1:

The observation that topical application of nitroglycerin to the penis may lead to erection adequate for sexual intercourse (Talley and Crawley 1985) has stimulated several investigations on the efficacy of this potential mode of treatment of erectile dysfunction.

1998, Alvaro Morales, editor, Erectile Dysfunction: Issues in Current Pharmacotherapy, CRC Press, →ISBN, page 107:


thermonuclear weapon

thermonuclear weapon (plural thermonuclear weapons)

A weapon whose power is derived from nuclear fusion at high temperature


black powder

A simple form of gunpowder, consisting of a mixture of saltpetre, charcoal, and sulfur.


atomic weapon

For 75 years, it has fulfilled a wide range of roles: producing weapons-grade plutonium for early atomic weapons in the aftermath of the Second World War; the world's first commercial nuclear power station supplying electricity to the National Grid; reprocessing and storage of nuclear fuel; and the processing of lower grades of radioactive waste for off-site storage.

2023 December 27, Ben Jones, “Inside Sellafield... by rail”, in RAIL, number 999, page 20:


land mine

land mines (plural)
landmine (alternative)

(always written together, from a Landmine™ developed in 1999 by a US company called Sorinex) A piece of exercise device consisting of a pivoting tube attached to the ground to which a barbell can be fitted to lift it off the ground.


landmine

en-verb

landmine (third-person singular simple present landmines, present participle landmining, simple past and past participle landmined)

landmines (present singular third-person)
landmining (participle present)
landmined (participle past)
landmined (past)

(transitive) To sow (an area) with land mines.


hand grenade

hand grenades (plural)
hand-grenade (alternative)

It began with a verbal hand grenade lobbed by Mr. Trump Monday, decrying the staggered release of hostages under the painstakingly crafted Israel-Hamas ceasefire agreement brokered by his own envoy along with Qatar, Egypt, and the outgoing Biden administration.

2025 February 11, Taylor Luck, “Jordan in a bind: What to offer Trump instead of taking in Gaza refugees?”, in The Christian Science Monitor:

(military) A small hand-held explosive device designed to be thrown at an enemy.

грана́та

ручна́я (ručnája)


nail bomb

nail bombs (plural)
nailbomb (alternative)

A bomb designed to cause extensive wounding by packing sharp objects around the explosive; used especially by terrorists and suicide bombers.

spijkerbom

bomb with sharp objects around the explosive


flash-bang

flash-bangs (plural)
flash bang (alternative)
flashbang (alternative)

From flash + bang. From the bright flash of light and loud bang (a concussive shockwave of sound) generated by this device.

As evening begins here in Washington, police are firing tear gas, deploying flash-bangs to disperse peaceful protests near the White House.

2020 June 1, 0:16–0:24 from the start, in Death of George Floyd drives protests across the U.S. — and beyond, Judy Woodruff (actor), PBS NewsHour:

A hand grenade that produces a very bright flash and a loud explosion, but no shrapnel and minimal explosive force, to disorient the target.

chockgranat

in non-technical language – see usage notes


doomsday device

en-noun

doomsday device (plural doomsday devices)

doomsday devices (plural)
Doomsday Device (alternative)

Coined as Doomsday Machine by military strategist Herman Kahn.

For more than a year, ominous rumors had been privately circulating among high-level Western leaders that the Soviet Union had been at work on what was darkly hinted to be the ultimate weapon: a doomsday device.

1964, Stanley Kubrick, Terry Southern, Peter George, Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, spoken by Narrator:

Of course, Henry M. Paulson Jr., the Treasury secretary, is calling for merging the S.E.C. with the easygoing Commodity Futures Trading Commission, in the financial equivalent of setting off a Doomsday Device.

2008 April 27, Ben Stein, “Wall Street, Run Amok”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

A hypothetical weapon (often a bomb) programmed to automatically be used in response to certain attacks, usually with very dire consequences (such as the annihilation of the world).


Doomsday Device

Doomsday Device (plural Doomsday Devices)

Alternative spelling of doomsday device.


guided missile

An unmanned, self-propelled vehicle that travels through the air to deliver a warhead to a predetermined point, keeping itself on course by making corrections via its control surfaces.


plastic explosive

plastic explosive (countable and uncountable, plural plastic explosives)

Any of a number of explosive materials formulated to be soft and hand malleable.


Claymore

An American-made anti-personnel mine designed to lay down a wide arc of steel ball bearings in order to inflict casualties.


cyclonite

(organic chemistry) The explosive 1,3,5-trinitroperhydro-1,3,5-triazine.


tetryl

tetryl (usually uncountable, plural tetryls)

(organic chemistry) The explosive 2,4,6-trinitrophenyl-N-methylnitramine produced by the nitration of dimethylaniline.


ANFO

The trouble, say experts who spoke on condition of anonymity, is that ANFO can be made in many different ways, and analyses of the minute molecular fragments it may yield in an explosion can produce ambiguous results.

1995 April 21, Malcolm W. Browne, “TERROR IN OKLAHOMA: THE SCIENCE; Experts Search for Debris To Link Bomb to a Suspect”, in The New York Times:

ammonium nitrate
ammonium nitrate#English

Acronym of ammonium nitrate–fuel oil, an explosive made from ammonium nitrate fertilizer and fuel oil.

硝安油剤爆薬

しょうあんゆざいばくやく


fission bomb

I heard the fission bomb test clearly and I was over a hundred miles away.

An atomic bomb that uses nuclear fission as a source of energy


fusion bomb

An atomic bomb that uses nuclear fusion as a source of energy; a hydrogen bomb


fragmentation grenade

fragmentation grenade (plural fragmentation grenades)

(military) An anti-personnel weapon, thrown or otherwise propelled, designed to disperse shrapnel upon exploding.


bomblet

A small or subsidiary bomb, such as one of those released by a cluster bomb.


FAE

fuel-air explosive
fuel-air explosive#English

(military) Initialism of fuel-air explosive (“thermobaric weapon”).


RDX

Short for "research department explosive".

A high explosive used by the military and industry.


superbomb

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-superbomb.wav

An extremely powerful bomb, especially the atomic bomb or hydrogen bomb.


grenadelike

en-adj

grenadelike (comparative more grenadelike, superlative most grenadelike)

more grenadelike (comparative)
most grenadelike (superlative)

The grenadelike munitions, tens of thousands of which have been found in southern Lebanon, have caused 30 deaths and 180 injuries among civilians since the end of the war, according to the United Nations Mine Action Service.

2007 January 28, David S. Cloud, “Israel May Have Violated Arms Pact, U.S. Says”, in New York Times:


cherry bomb

A spherical, cherry-sized firecracker that generates a high-power explosion.


grenado

From Spanish granada, from Latin granata (Late Latin).


intercontinental ballistic missile

en-noun

intercontinental ballistic missile (plural intercontinental ballistic missiles)

intercontinental ballistic missiles (plural)
ICBM (alternative initialism)

From intercontinental + ballistic missile.

(military, astronautics) A class of long-range missiles associated especially with carrying nuclear warheads.

междуконтинентална балистична ракета

a class of long-range missiles associated especially with carrying nuclear warheads (ICBM)

大陸間弾道ミサイル

たいりくかんだんどうミサイル

межконтинента́льная баллисти́ческая раке́та


micronuke

A hypothetical nuclear weapon built on a very small scale.


AShBM

anti-ship ballistic missile
anti-ship ballistic missile#English

(military) Initialism of anti-ship ballistic missile.


explodium

(chiefly fiction) Any material that explodes extremely easily.


Mills bomb

Named after British inventor Sir William Mills (1856–1932).

named-after

They made a rush forward again, the dust and smoke clearing a little, and they heard the elastic twang of Mills bombs as they reached an empty trench, very narrow where shelling had not wrecked or levelled it.

1929, Frederic Manning, The Middle Parts of Fortune, Vintage, published 2014, page 10:

He said when he pulled the pin out of the Mills bomb, he was always afraid it would go off before he got it out of his hand.

1974, GB Edwards, The Book of Ebenezer Le Page, New York, published 2007, page 118:

Any of a series of British fragmentation hand grenades.


doomsday weapon

en-noun

doomsday weapon (plural doomsday weapons)


rendrock

(US, dated) A kind of dynamite used in blasting.


N-bomb

The synthetic hallucinogen 25I-NBOMe, used as a recreational drug.


abelite

* Named after Sir Frederick Abel, English chemist.
* Abel + -ite

(organic chemistry) An explosive consisting of ammonium nitrate with hydrocarbons added.

abelita

explosive consisting of ammonium nitrate and hydrocarbons


flash grenade

From flash + grenade. From the bright flash generated by this type of hand-throwable man-portable explosive device.


stun grenade

From stun + grenade, from its stunning effect.


smoke grenade

A bomb that generates thick smoke when it explodes; used especially to produce a smokescreen.


rocket propelled grenade

rocket propelled grenade (plural rocket propelled grenades)

rocket-propelled grenade
rocket-propelled grenade#English

Alternative form of rocket-propelled grenade.


flash bang

A flash bang contains no explosive, and the container is not designed to fragment.

2003, Dennis Krebs, When Violence Erupts: A Survival Guide for Emergency Responders, page 153:

In January of 2005 in Niagara Falls, New York, an 18-year-old woman who was not the intended arrest target suffered second and third degree burns as a result of the use of a flash bang during the service of a high-risk warrant.

2007, Frank A. Colaprete, editor, Internal Investigations: A Practitioner's Approach, page 180:

I have a flash bang with a timer set for 60 seconds.

2008, James Devries, Deep Cover, page 151:


infernal machine

infernal machine (plural infernal machines)

The Prince of Orange likewise had recourse to the destructive effects of an infernal machine, in order to bombard Havre-de-Grace, and to set it on fire.

1810, Charles James, “Machines, Infernal”, in A New and Enlarged Military Dictionary, in French and English, 3rd edition, volume I, London: T. Egerton:

The vessel against which the infernal machine had been moored had been blown to atoms.

1871, William Stephens Hayward, “LIII : The Explosion”, in The Fiery Cross, a Tale of the Great American War, London: Charles H. Clarke, page 345:

(dated) A bespoke machine comprising a large bomb and an unmanned vessel or carriage carrying it to a target


Neptune powder

An explosive containing nitroglycerine, used in blasting.


Baratol

An explosive made from TNT and barium nitrate.


powder burn

powder burns (plural)
powder-burn (alternative)

To anxious throngs who crowded into Mexico City's Palacio Nacional this week, bland President Manuel Avila Camacho displayed a two-inch swath burned in the jacket of his grey-and-red striped suit, a similar powder burn in his white shirt beneath. The burns were over his heart. A jiu jitsu trick and somewhat erratic marksmanship were all that had saved the President.

1944 April 17, “Mexico: At the Palacio Nacional”, in Time, retrieved 2014-05-13:

Most had head wounds and powder burns, indicating that they had been shot at close range.

1983 June 4, Lydia Chavez, “Salvador Photos Indicate Massacre”, in New York Times, retrieved 2014-05-13:

Tom Chaney is a depraved man who kills for no good reason. . . . Chaney has a powder burn on his face.

2013 Oct. 8, grumpynerd, "Writer's Book Report: TRUE GRIT," Daily Kos (retrieved 13 May 2014)

A burn, ordinarily superficial and on someone's skin, resulting from proximity to an explosion of gunpowder, such as that associated with the discharge of a firearm.


smart bomb

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-smart bomb.wav


explosive belt

The threat the most radical of them pose is evidently far greater at home than abroad: in one characteristically slick and chilling Isis video – entitled “a message to the Jordanian tyrant” – a smiling, long-haired young man in black pats the explosive belt round his waist as he burns his passport and his fellow fighters praise the memory of Zarqawi, who was killed in Iraq in 2006.

2014 November 27, Ian Black, “Courts kept busy as Jordan works to crush support for Isis”, in The Guardian:

A belt packed with explosives and armed with a detonator, worn by a suicide bomber.

حِزَام نَاسِف

belt with explosives, worn by suicide bombers


suicide vest

A vest packed with explosives and armed with a detonator, worn by suicide bombers.

Sprengstoffweste

vest with explosives, worn by suicide bombers


suicide belt

A belt packed with explosives and armed with a detonator, worn by suicide bombers.


concussion grenade

concussion grenade (plural concussion grenades)

From concussion + grenade, from the loud noise and shockwave it generates.


iron bomb

(military aviation) A dumb bomb, a type of gravity bomb, an unguided bomb dropped from an aircraft.


dumb bomb

From dumb + bomb, coined to contrast with smart bomb.

An airdropped bomb without any guidance system to control it after launch.


bombs away

Launch the torpedo on three! 1... 2... 3! Bombs away!

(usually military) Said after a projectile is unleashed.


isomer bomb

isomer bombs (plural)
isomeric bomb (alternative)

From isomer + bomb from being a bomb fuelled by nuclear isomer changes.

A more useable size might be 1 g with an accelerated decay of 200 kg of TNT. The isomer bomb obtained funding, but was canceled as nonsensical.

2013, David Hafemeister, Physics of Societal Issues: Calculations on National Security, Environment, and Energy, Springer, →ISBN, page 23:

But in recent years, a group of fringe scientists aided by defense industry insiders has convinced the Pentagon that America's post-9/11 survival depends on developing an isomer bomb. While proponents compare it to the Manhattan Project, opponents point out that independent researchers have not been able to duplicate the results attained by isomer enthusiasts, and that many assumptions behind the bomb contradict the laws of physics. Though Congress canceled isomer bomb development in 2004, the Department of Energy found $5 million to continue the research.

2011, Karolina Dean...Where the HELL is my monkey?, “The Pentagon's fascination with fringe science”, in rec.sport.pro-wrestling (Usenet):

Danger Room has closely followed developments related to miniature nuclear weapon, such as the “isomer bomb,” a notional weapon based on some rather controversial physics of accelerating the decay of nuclear isomers. Like Red Mercury, nuclear isomers never grows old. In January, the first ever isomer bomb was detonated in front of millions of viewers. Of course the bomb in question was fictional, a handy plot device in the new Knight Rider series. It was set to go off if the car dropped to below 100 mph; how original is that as a plot device?

2009, David Hambling, “Red Mercury Mania Returns as Saudis Buy Up “Mini-Nuke” Material”, in Wired:

The AWE's emphasis is on basic research and the potential for energy storage. But Thomson does not believe that an isomer bomb can be ruled out, saying that the controversy over Collins' claims has not been fully resolved. He adds: "A secondary role of AWE is to provide independent advice to the UK government on potential threats to the security of the UK, so an understanding of the fundamentals of isomer physics is essential."

2008, David Hambling, “Discredited pseudoscience or a newly useful technology?”, in The Guardian:

In America, the most controversial research has involved trying to "trigger" — get energy out of — a Hafnium isomer. In Russia, there has been plenty of controversy over Hafnium, as well. A 2005 paper on induced decay of the nuclear isomer 178m2Hf and the ‘isomeric bomb’ written by E. V. Tkalya, is deeply skeptical of the physics involved.

2008, David Hambling, “Russia’s Isomer Bomb, Funded by Your Taxes”, in Wired:

The hafnium isomer bomb concept is the product of a physicist's imagination. The hafnium, or isomer, bomb, is proposed by an expert who needs research funding to prove that the reaction takes place.

2008, Richard M. Swiderski, Quicksilver: A History of the Use, Lore and Effects of Mercury, McFarland, →ISBN, page 229:

For those who want all the nitty gritty details on the very weird life and death of DARPA’s isomer bomb, you can read my book, or for a shorter overview, you can read David Hambling’s New Scientist article along with my Washington Post Magazine article.

2008, Sharon Weinberger, “Is the Pentagon Funding Isomer Bombs Again?”, in Wired:

Washington bureaucracy works in strange ways. I was immediately asked what stake the arms control groups at State had in a fight over whether or not DARPA was to be allowed to waste $40 million on what my instincts said was very bad science. But we did have a reason to get involved: the proponents of isomer weapons suggested that–although the energy release derived from excited states of nuclei–because the mechanism did not involve either fission or fusion, an isomer bomb would not be a nuclear weapon. That would mean it could be tested even under the terms of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, and could even be tested in the atmosphere, despite the 1963 Limited Test Ban Treaty

2007, Peter D. Zimmerman, “The Strange Tale of the Hafnium Bomb: A Personal Narrative”, in American Physical Society News:

Take the so-called hafnium bomb, also known as the isomer bomb. According to its proponents, this futuristic weapon would harness the immense energy in subatomic particles known as isomers to deliver kiloton yields in a tiny package.

2006, Daniel G. Dupont, “Far-Out Physics”, in Scientific American, →DOI:

• Pure isomer bomb: 0.1 to 5 MeV gamma-rays;

2005, Andre Gsponer, “Fourth Generation Nuclear Weapons: Military effectiveness and collateral effects”, in arXiv:

The problem of developing the isomeric bomb on the basis of these isomeric nuclei is considered. The experimental data analysis shows that development of the hafnium bomb at present is nonreal, because the existing plans of its creation are based on the noncorrectness of obtained experimental data

2005, E.V. Tkalya, “Induced decay of the 178m2Hf and isomeric bomb”, in Physics Uspekhi:

I think a hydrogen bomb can be made that is started by an isomer bomb not an atomic bomb.

2004, Kurt stocklmeir, “Re: laser cooling”, in sci.math (Usenet):

(military, weaponry) a type of theoretical radiological nuclear weapon that relies on an induced rapid change in the state of nuclear isomers to generate an intense gamma ray flash.


thermonuclear bomb

thermonuclear bomb (plural thermonuclear bombs)

thermonuclear weapon
thermonuclear weapon#English


robomb

[…] to provide 30,000 temporary emergency houses for war workers in war production areas in England. These will help replace some of the 500,000 houses estimated to have been completely destroyed by the Luftwaffe and robombs.

1944, United States. President, Report to Congress on Lend-lease Operations, page 40:


barrel bomb

(military aviation) A barrel filled with explosives, used as an improvised unguided bomb and dropped from a helicopter or airplane.


roburite

From Latin rōbur (“hardness, strength”) + -ite.

affix

An explosive formerly used in mining, made from chlorinated dinitrobenzene oxidized by ammonium nitrate.


aerobomb

Extracting aerobomb's aerodynamic drag coefficient curve C_(df) from 3-dimensional theodolite film data is formulated as an optimal tracking control problem (OTCP), where the C_(df) the control function and the flight testing data are the desired trajectories.

1999, Yangquan Chen, Extracting aerobomb's aerodynamic drag coefficient curve from theodolite data via iterative learning 1:

(dated) A bomb dropped from an aircraft.


counterexplosion

An explosion triggered by, or in response to, another explosion.


Eurodeterrent

/ˌjʊəɹəʊdɪˈtɛɹənt/

The idea of a Eurodeterrent, essentially based on Anglo-French or Franco-German cooperation, has not materialized, for national political reasons. In the meantime the Soviet Union has increased the number of its SS-20 nuclear missiles and of its Backfire bombers, which were excluded from the SALT II agreement as “non-strategic,” but which can, with their respective ranges, easily hit the obsolete French and British nuclear arsenals and the European airports on which the strategic air-forces are based.

1980, Leopold Łabędź, “1983: How Europe Fell”, in Policy Review, number 17, Washington, D.C.: Hoover Institution, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 11:

If a group of European nations under EU, WEU [Western European Union]or other auspices succeeded in building a collective ‘Eurodeterrent’, some Americans might conclude that US commitments and forces in Europe were no longer necessary.

1999, Kōrō Bessho, Identities and Security in East Asia (Adelphi Papers; 325), Oxford: Oxford University Press for the International Institute for Strategic Studies, →ISBN, page 40:

A number of European governments publicly criticized France to the clear dismay of French leaders. The effort by Paris to portray its nuclear weapons as the 'European deterrent' (or Euro-deterrent) failed to win many hearts and minds in Europe.

2015, Ramesh Thakur, “The Nuclear Debate”, in Nuclear Weapons and International Security: Collected Essays, Abingdon, Oxon., New York, N.Y.: Routledge, →ISBN, page 72:

The proposed unified nuclear deterrent of the European Community (before November 1993) and the European Union (after November 1993).

Eurodeterrent

proposed unified nuclear deterrent of the European Union


Mother of all Bombs

From a reinterpretation of the acronym MOAB (originally for "Massive Ordnance Air Blast"), using the mother of all construction.

(military) A type of large-yield conventional bomb, the GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast.


Father of all Bombs

In reference to the US Mother of all Bombs, which the Russian military sought to surpass.

(military) A type of Russian-designed, large-yield conventional bomb, the Aviation Thermobaric Bomb of Increased Power.


smoke bomb

Smoke bombs would be used. The thick fumes resulting from their explosion between the lines would cover our advance.

1916, Patrick MacGill, chapter 3, in The Great Push: An Episode of the Great War, London: Herbert Jenkins, page 48:

Over every German battery would soar the observation plane indicating by tinsel or smoke bombs the location of the guns […]

1918, Willis J. Abbot, chapter 9, in Aircraft and Submarines: The Story of the Invention, Development, and Present-Day Uses of War’s Newest Weapons, New York: Putnam:

Margot would plant smoke-bombs in Kuno’s bedroom and then rush in to rescue him from the fumes.

1935, Christopher Isherwood, chapter 13, in Mr Norris Changes Trains, Penguin, published 1942, page 147:

The agent gave them the two camera-cases you saw. […] He told them that the blue case contained a very powerful smoke-bomb. The red case was the explosive. As one of them threw the red case, the other was to press a switch on the blue case and they would escape under cover of the smoke.

1953, Ian Fleming, chapter 9, in Casino Royale, London: Jonathan Cape:

(military) An explosive or incendiary device designed to produce smoke in order to mark a position or produce a smokescreen.


Molotov breadbasket

en-noun

Molotov breadbasket (plural Molotov breadbaskets)

Molotov breadbaskets (plural)
Molotov bread basket (alternative)
Molotov's bread basket (alternative)

Molotov bread basket
Vyacheslav Molotov
Winter War

Coined around 1940 to describe cluster munitions used in Finland by the Soviet Union during the 1939–1940 Winter War. From Molotov + breadbasket, after Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov. Compare Molotov cocktail.

Our bombardment aircraft dropped this armament in bomb-shaped 250- and 500-kilogram canisters (models AB250 and AB500). These fragmentation bombs proved to be extremely effective against live targets when discharged by a scatter drop (an adaptation of the Molotov “bread basket”).

2001, Steven H. Newton, Kursk: The German View, page 187:

A cluster bomb; a munition that disperses multiple smaller explosives.


bomb crater

Scene near Ingatestone, L.N.E.R., shortly after the locomotive of a London-Harwich train had fallen into a bomb crater.

1943 September and October, “Notes and News: Locomotive in Bomb Crater”, in Railway Magazine, page 311, photo caption:

A hole in the ground created by the explosion of a large bomb, usually one dropped by a bomber (aircraft).


securite

A high explosive in the form of a yellowish powder.


SLCM

In principle, ALCMs and SLCMs differ only in their launch platforms; it therefore might be possible for ALCMs to be launched from SLCM launchers with only minor modifications.

1990, Frank Von Hippel, R. Z. Sagdeev, Reversing the Arms Race, →ISBN:

Hence SLCM's do not fit easily into either a disarming first strike or a retaliatory category.

1991, Greg Schmergel, US Foreign Policy in the 1990s, →ISBN, page 122:

And since over 80% of US SLCMs will be non-nuclear, the correlation between SLCM-capable launchers and US nuclear SLCMs is even more tenuous.

2012, Jürgen Altmann, Joseph Rotblat, Verification of Arms Reductions: Nuclear, Conventional and Chemical, →ISBN:

Initialism of sea-launched cruise missile.


powder mine

An excavation filled with gunpowder for blasting rocks, etc.


sodatol

A high explosive consisting of a mixture of sodium nitrate and trinitrotoluene.


collar bomb

A bomb fitted around the neck of a person, as the collar. Typically used in kidnapping and ransoming.


detcord

detcords (plural)
det cord (alternative)
det. cord (alternative)
detacord (alternative)


ERW

(military) Acronym of explosive remnant of war.


tacnuke

en-verb

tacnuke (third-person singular simple present tacnukes, present participle tacnuking, simple past and past participle tacnuked)

tacnukes (present singular third-person)
tacnuking (participle present)
tacnuked (participle past)
tacnuked (past)
tac-nuke (alternative)
tac nuke (alternative)

(transitive, chiefly US, colloquial, figuratively) To destroy or erase completely.


low explosive

An explosive compound whose rate of decomposition proceeds through the material at less than the speed of sound.


silver fulminate

(chemistry, explosives) An extremely sensitive explosive with the chemical formula AgCNO; the silver salt of fulminic acid.


hyperexplosion

hyperexplosions (plural)
hyper explosion (alternative)
hyper-explosion (alternative)

Impacts versus Hyperexplosions as a cause of circular structures on Earth.

1982, Jennifer M. Groh, Tectonics & Structural Geology Newsletter, Volume 8, Specialist Group in Tectonics & Structural Geology. Geological Society of Australia, page 52:

His "inflation theory" posits that the universe began in a hyperexplosion that makes the big bang look like a whimper; it answers mysteries of cosmologyon which earlier theories had been mute."

1993 September 26, Sharon Begley, “The Puzzle Of Genius”, in www.newsweek.com, archived from the original on 2021-05-09:

His shadow-form would be immune to the resulting singularity hyperexplosion.

2009, John C. Wright, Null-A Continuum, Tom Doherty Associates, →ISBN, page 215:

(rare) An extremely severe explosion; a superexplosion.


dynamitish

en-adj

dynamitish (comparative more dynamitish, superlative most dynamitish)

more dynamitish (comparative)
most dynamitish (superlative)

Resembling or characteristic of dynamite; explosive.


airbomb

A firework consisting of flash powder in a paper case, ejected into the air with a black powder lifting charge ignited by a fuse, and producing a loud bang and bright flash.


bomb squad

They isolate; they evacuate the area; and they call the bomb squad. We then go in and do our examination.

1978, United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on the Judiciary. Subcommittee on Criminal Laws and Procedures, Tagging of Explosives: Hearings Before the Subcommittee..., page 181:

Sam and the informant were quickly arrested, and the bomb squad defused the bombs.

2015, Robert A Casper Sr., The FBI, a Vocation to Serve:

A division of a police force or the military responsible for safely defusing or detonating hazardous explosive devices.


dive-bomb

en-verb

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

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

On June 13, the cross-channel steamer St. Patrick was dive-bombed and sunk by enemy aircraft towards the end of its trip from Rosslare to Fishguard.

1941 August, “Notes and News: G.W.R. Steamer Sunk”, in Railway Magazine, page 380:


frag grenade

fragmentation grenade
fragmentation grenade#English

Alternative form of fragmentation grenade.


Tsar Bomba

Borrowed from Russian Царь-бо́мба (Carʹ-bómba, “emperor of bombs”).

bor

A 50-megaton thermonuclear bomb, detonated by the Soviet Union in October 1961. It was the biggest nuclear bomb ever exploded.


JDAM

/ˈd͡ʒeɪˌdæm/

“The crater and surrounding damage is also not consistent with a JDAM aerial bomb. The hole on the ground occurred from kinetic energy.”

2023 October 18, Manisha Ganguly, Emma Graham-Harrison, Jason Burke, Elena Morresi, Ashley Kirk, quoting Marc Garlasco, “Al-Ahli Arab hospital: piecing together what happened as Israel insists militant rocket to blame”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

Joint Direct Attack Munition
w:Joint Direct Attack Munition

(military) Acronym of Joint Direct Attack Munition.


superwarhead

superwarheads (plural)
super warhead (alternative)

And he said the Russians would need a "superwarhead" on their own minuteman-type weapon in order to be successful.

1961, Associated Press Clippings File Europe Disorders 1961-09-01, Press Association Inc., page 2:

A thousand times more powerful than the A-bomb that destroyed Nagasaki, this superwarhead would be capable of imposing great blast or overpressure on a very large area.

1970, Ralph E. Lapp, Arms Beyond Doubt: The Tyranny of Weapons Technology, Cowles Book Company, →ISBN, page 59:

Approval for its development may have been facilitated by Khrushchev’s interest in large-yield "terror weapons," for whose delivery the SS-9 was ideally suited. (Khrushchev boasted publicly about the Soviet possession of such weapons and the atmospheric thermonuclear test series conducted in August-September 1961 included the explosion of a superwarhead with a yield of approximately 50 megatons.)

1977, The Military in Contemporary Soviet Politics: An Institutional Analysis, Praeger, →ISBN, page 190:

However, every smaller terrorist state has its own superwarheads, happily sold to them by the big powers' armament industries. The problem of the deterrent has merely been displaced to the irresponsible and the fanatical.

1990, Christine Brooke-Rose, Verbivore, Carcanet, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 47:

(rare, military) An extremely destructive and powerful warhead.


dial-a-yield

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-dial-a-yield.wav

(military) Of a nuclear weapon, having a yield that is variable (i.e. selectable without reconstruction).


TNW

tactical nuclear weapon
w:tactical nuclear weapon


NSNW

non-strategic nuclear weapon
w:non-strategic nuclear weapon

Initialism of non-strategic nuclear weapon.


EPW

earth-penetrating weapon
w:earth-penetrating weapon


dunnite

From Dunn + -ite, after U.S. Army major Beverly Dunn, who developed it.

(military, historical) Ammonium picrate, used as an explosive.


holy hand grenade

en-noun

holy hand grenade (plural holy hand grenades)

A reference to the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch, a fictional weapon featured in the 1975 film Monty Python and the Holy Grail. The popularity of holy hand grenades as video game items is largely attributed to the Worms series.

(chiefly video games) A fictional weapon, usually gilded with gold and adorned with Christian symbolism such as crosses, which is a much more powerful version of a standard hand grenade or explosive.


pentolite

Local people fear the pentolite, which is buried underground and is in an unknown number of places around the forest floor, could explode at any time and say it blocks full access to their land, puts them at risk and threatens the forest itself.

2024 April 18, Beatriz Miranda, “‘We can’t hunt or fish’: the villages in Ecuador’s Amazon surrounded by abandoned explosives”, in The Guardian, →ISSN:

A composite high explosive used for military and civilian purposes.