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bombard - 7 dictionary results

bom⋅bard

  [v. bom-bahrd, buhm-; n. bom-bahrd]
Use bombard in a Sentence
–verb (used with object)
1. to attack or batter with artillery fire.
2. to attack with bombs.
3. to assail vigorously: to bombard the speaker with questions.
4. Physics. to direct high energy particles or radiations against: to bombard a nucleus.
–noun
5. the earliest kind of cannon, originally throwing stone balls.
6. Nautical. bomb ketch.
7. an English leather tankard of the 18th century and earlier, similar to but larger than a blackjack.
8. Obsolete. a leather jug.
Origin:
1400–50; late ME (n.) < ML bombarda stone-throwing engine (L bomb(us) booming noise (see bomb ) + -arda -ard )

Related forms:
bom⋅bard⋅er, noun
bom⋅bard⋅ment, noun

Synonyms:
3. beset, harass, hound, besiege.

bomb ketch

 
–noun
Nautical. a ketch-rigged vessel of the 17th and 18th centuries, carrying heavy mortars for firing bombs.
Also called bombard, mortar ketch.

Origin:
1685–95
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To bombard
bom·bard   (bŏm-bärd', bəm-)   
tr.v.   bom·bard·ed, bom·bard·ing, bom·bards
  1. To attack with bombs, shells, or missiles.
  2. To assail persistently, as with requests. See Synonyms at attack, barrage2.
  3. To irradiate (an atom).
  4. To attack with a cannon firing stone balls.
n.   (bŏm'bärd')
An early form of cannon that fired stone balls.

[From Middle English, a bombard, from Old French bombarde, from Medieval Latin bombarda, probably from Latin bombus, a booming sound; see bomb.]
bom·bard'er n., bom·bard'ment n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Bombard

Bom"bard\, n. [F. bombarde, LL. bombarda, fr. L. bombus + -ard. Cf. Bumper, and see Bomb.]

1. (Gun.) A piece of heavy ordnance formerly used for throwing stones and other ponderous missiles. It was the earliest kind of cannon.

They planted in divers places twelve great bombards, wherewith they threw huge stones into the air, which, falling down into the city, might break down the houses. --Knolles.

2. A bombardment. [Poetic & R.] --J. Barlow.

3. A large drinking vessel or can, or a leather bottle, for carrying liquor or beer. [Obs.]

Yond same black cloud, yond huge one, looks like a foul bombard that would shed his liquor. --Shak.

4. pl. Padded breeches. [Obs.]

Bombard phrase, inflated language; bombast. [Obs.] --B. Jonson.

Bombard

Bom"bard\, n. [OE. bombarde, fr. F. bombarde.] (Mus.) See Bombardo. [Obs.]

Bombard

Bom*bard"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Bombarded; p. pr. & vb. n. Bombarding.] To attack with bombards or with artillery; especially, to throw shells, hot shot, etc., at or into.

Next, she means to bombard Naples. --Burke.

His fleet bombarded and burnt down Dieppe. --Wood.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : bombard
Spanish: bombardear,
German: bombardieren,
Japanese: 砲撃する
More Translations »

bombard 
c.1430 (n.), 1598 (v.), from Fr. bombarder, from bombarde "mortar, catapult," from bombe (see bomb). The same word, from the same source, was used c.1393 in reference to a bassoon-like musical instrument. Bombardier is first recorded 1560.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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