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Bomb

[bom]

noun

Military. a projectile, formerly usually spherical, filled with a bursting charge and exploded by means of a fuze, by impact, or otherwise, now generally designed to be dropped from an aircraft.

any similar missile or explosive device used as a weapon, to disperse crowds, etc.: a time bomb; a smoke bomb.

Also called volcanic bomb. Geology. a rough spherical or ellipsoidal mass of lava, ejected from a volcano and hardened while falling.

aerosol bomb.

Football. a long forward pass, especially one to a teammate who scores a touchdown.

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Slang.

an absolute failure; fiasco: The play was a bomb and closed after two performances.

something unpleasant that is unexpected or shocking (often used in combination with an abbreviated swearword): Then she dropped a bomb with her announcement about the staff cuts. He's always dropping the f-bomb.

the bomb, something that is excellent or very impressive: Her boyfriend is the bomb.

Chiefly British. an overwhelming success: The novel is selling like a bomb.

Jazz. a sudden, unexpected accent or rhythmic figure played by a drummer during a performance.

a lead or lead-lined container for transporting and storing radioactive materials.

the bomb,

atomic bomb.

nuclear weapons collectively.

10.

Computers. a spectacular program or system failure.

11.

Slang. a powerful automobile or other vehicle.

COLLAPSE

verb (used with object)

12.

to hurl bombs at or drop bombs upon, as from an airplane; bombard: The enemy planes bombed the city.

13.

to explode by means of a bomb or explosive.

14.

Computers. to deliberately cause (a computer system) to fail with a program written for the purpose.

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Bomb is one of our favorite verbs.

So is hornswoggle. Does it mean:

to steal or take dishonestly (money, esp. public funds, or property entrusted to one's care); embezzle.

to swindle, cheat, hoodwink, or hoax.

LEARN MORE FUN, UNUSUAL VERBS WITH WORD DYNAMO...

verb (used without object)

15.

to hurl or drop bombs.

16.

to explode a bomb or bombs.

17.

Slang. to be or make a complete failure, especially to fail to please or gain an audience; flop (sometimes followed by out): His last play bombed on Broadway. The business bombed out with a $25,000 debt.

18.

(of a computer program or system) to fail spectacularly.

19.

Informal. to move very quickly: They came bombing through here on their motorcycles at 2 a.m.

Origin:
1580–90; 1960–65 for def. 17; earlier bom(b)e < Spanish bomba (de fuego) ball (of fire), akin to bombo drum < Latin bombus a booming sound < Greek bómbos

Related forms

bomb·able, adjective

Can be confused: balm, bomb.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Link To Bomb

Example Sentences

For decades it waited for a bomb that never dropped.

Wells foresaw, decades in advance, the invention of the atomic bomb.

No matter how much armor you encase yourself in, there's always a bigger bomb to blow that shield open.

EXPAND

For decades it waited for a bomb that never dropped.

Wells foresaw, decades in advance, the invention of the atomic bomb.

No matter how much armor you encase yourself in, there's always a bigger bomb to blow that shield open.

The man carrying the bomb was linked to drug traffickers, investigators said.

Students who did do the work and bomb need more practice while students who didn't do the work and bomb also need more practice.

When and how it might build an atomic bomb is a matter of intense debate.

The same place that gave the world the atomic bomb has now found a way to ferret out illicit nuclear material.

Wired tells the story of the strangest heist ever, starting when a man walked into a bank with a bomb locked around his neck.

Police believed the bomb was the work of the anarchist group that sent two similar packages last week.

No one was injured in the arson, in which a small fire bomb was apparently pushed through the house's mail slot.

They then made it look as if they had killed him in an exchange of gunfire as he was digging a hole for a roadside bomb.

Even in fall you can paddle a deserted island, road-trip through a barren moonscape, or bomb a mountain.

One bomb could knock out power distribution that the country would have come to rely on heavily.

Hazen realized he could use the pressure bomb to test this theory.

Here's a simple set of instructions for making a tiny confetti bomb out of materials you've probably.

The van was towed away for further checks by the bomb squad.

New owners who have grown up with the risk of imminent death from a bomb or bullet see roads as an extension of the battlefield.

Had they a dirty bomb or the capability of carrying out another spectacular attack, they would have attempted a strike.

Customs inspectors may have simply missed a smuggled bomb or batch of missiles.

Just recently they brought in a survivor of the atomic bomb to speak.

It's too bad nuclear scientists can't stop working for the military and can't get off their bomb addiction.

We were herded into an abandoned bicycle factory, and attached was a time bomb.

When he dips the bomb shards into his purple stuff, the solution will show the proteins left on the improved explosive devices.

There's already been trouble, if you count the bomb that went off earlier today.

And they began to bomb micro particles in the vacuum, in hoping.

Those who dared speak out were usually silenced with a car bomb or a hail of bullets.

Anyway you look at it, strapping a bomb to your back and blowing up hundreds of civilians amounts to war.

Yes, let's bomb innocent people simply because of where they live.

Treat the statement as a time bomb waiting to explode your chances.

That's where two decades of atomic bomb testing can offer clues.

To my knowledge police have no leads on who planted the bomb or what their motive may have been.

He then turned around and argued against the development of the hydrogen bomb.

COLLAPSE

Collins

World English Dictionary

bomb (bɒm)

—n
1.	a. a hollow projectile containing an explosive, incendiary, or other destructive substance, esp one carried by aircraft
	b. (as modifier): bomb disposal; a bomb bay
	c. (in combination): a bombload; bombproof
2.	any container filled with explosive: a car bomb; a letter bomb
3.	the bomb
	a. a hydrogen or atomic bomb considered as the ultimate destructive weapon
	b. slang something excellent: it's the bomb
4.	a round or pear-shaped mass of volcanic rock, solidified from molten lava that has been thrown into the air
5.	med a container for radioactive material, applied therapeutically to any part of the body: a cobalt bomb
6.	slang (Brit) a large sum of money (esp in the phrase make a bomb)
7.	slang (US), (Canadian) a disastrous failure: the new play was a total bomb
8.	slang (Austral), (NZ) an old or dilapidated motorcar
9.	American football a very long high pass
10.	(in rugby union) another term for up-and-under
11.	informal (Brit), (NZ) like a bomb with great speed or success; very well (esp in the phrase go like a bomb)

—vb
12.	to attack with or as if with a bomb or bombs; drop bombs (on)
13.	informal (intr; often foll by off, along, etc) to move or drive very quickly
14.	slang (intr) See also bomb out to fail disastrously; be a flop: the new play bombed

[C17: from French bombe, from Italian bomba, probably from Latin bombus a booming sound, from Greek bombos, of imitative origin; compare Old Norse bumba drum]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

bomb

1580s, from Fr. bombe, from It. bomba, probably from L. bombus "a deep, hollow noise; a buzzing or booming sound," from Gk. bombos "deep and hollow sound," echoic. Originally of mortar shells, etc.; modern sense of "explosive device placed by hand or dropped from airplane" is 1909. Meaning "old car"

EXPAND

is from 1953. Meaning "success" is from 1954 (late 1990s slang the bomb "the best" is probably a fresh formation); opposite sense of "a failure" is from 1963. The bomb "atomic bomb" is from 1945. Bomber as a type of military aircraft is from 1917. Bombed "drunk" is from 1959.

COLLAPSE

Slang Dictionary

bomb definition

n.
a bad performance or an inherently bad show. : They tried as hard as they could, but the thing was a bomb from Act One on.
in.
to fail. : My first try bombed, but things got better.
Go to bomb(shell). :

Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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bomb (out) definition

in.
[for a computer or computer program] to fail. : The whole thing bombed out at just the wrong time.

Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
Cite This Source

bomb(shell) definition

n.
a stunning piece of news that is dropped without warning. (See also bomb.) : I am still recovering from your bombshell of last evening.

Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
Cite This Source

FOLDOC

Computing Dictionary

bomb definition

1. General synonym for crash except that it is not used as a noun. Especially used of software or OS failures. "Don't run Empire with less than 32K stack, it'll bomb".
2. Atari ST and Macintosh equivalents of a Unix "panic" or Amiga guru, in which icons of little black-powder bombs or mushroom clouds are displayed, indicating that the system has died. On the Macintosh, this may be accompanied by a decimal (or occasionally hexadecimal) number indicating what went wrong, similar to the Amiga guru meditation number. MS-DOS computers tend to lock up in this situation.
3. A piece of code embedded in a program that remains dormant until it is triggered. Logic bombs are triggered by an event whereas time bombs are triggered either after a set amount of time has elapsed, or when a specific date is reached.
[Jargon File]
(1996-12-08)

American Heritage

Idioms & Phrases

bomb

see time bomb.