[v. bom-bahrd, buh
m-; n. bom-bahrd] 
| 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. |
| 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. |
| Nautical. a ketch-rigged vessel of the 17th and 18th centuries, carrying heavy mortars for firing bombs. |
| bom·bard (bŏm-bärd', bəm-) tr.v. bom·bard·ed, bom·bard·ing, bom·bards
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. |