boom definition | Dictionary.com

boom

1 [boom]

–verb (used without object)

1.	to make a deep, prolonged, resonant sound.

2.	to move with a resounding rush or great impetus.

3.	to progress, grow, or flourish vigorously, as a business or a city: Her business is booming since she enlarged the store.

–verb (used with object)

4.	to give forth with a booming sound (often fol. by out): The clock boomed out nine.

5.	to boost; campaign for vigorously: His followers are booming George for mayor.

–noun

6.	a deep, prolonged, resonant sound.

7.	the resonant cry of a bird or animal.

8.	a buzzing, humming, or droning, as of a bee or beetle.

9.	a rapid increase in price, development, numbers, etc.: a boom in housing construction.

10.	a period of rapid economic growth, prosperity, high wages and prices, and relatively full employment.

11.	a rise in popularity, as of a political candidate.

–adjective

12.	caused by or characteristic of a boom: boom prices.

Origin:
1400–50; 1910–15 for def. 10; late ME bombon, bummyn to buzz; c. D bommen, G bummen, orig. imit.

Related forms:

boom⋅ing⋅ly, adverb

Synonyms:
3. prosper, thrive, develop.

boom

2 [boom]

–noun

1.	Nautical. any of various more or less horizontal spars or poles for extending the feet of sails, esp. fore-and-aft sails, for handling cargo, suspending mooring lines alongside a vessel, pushing a vessel away from wharves, etc.

Aeronautics.

a.	an outrigger used on certain aircraft for connecting the tail surfaces to the fuselage.

b.	a maneuverable and retractable pipe on a tanker aircraft for refueling another aircraft in flight.

c.	chord ¹ (def. 4).

3.	a chain, cable, series of connected floating timbers, or the like, serving to obstruct navigation, confine floating timber, etc.

4.	the area thus shut off.

5.	Machinery. a spar or beam projecting from the mast of a derrick for supporting or guiding the weights to be lifted.

6.	(on a motion-picture or television stage) a spar or beam on a mobile crane for holding or manipulating a microphone or camera.

–verb (used with object)

7.	to extend or position, as a sail (usually fol. by out or off).

8.	to manipulate (an object) by or as by means of a crane or derrick.

–verb (used without object)

9.	to sail at full speed.

—Idiom

10.	lower the boom, to take decisive punitive action: The government has lowered the boom on tax evaders.

Origin:
1635–45; < D: tree, pole, beam

Related forms:

boomless, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Link To boom

boom¹ (bōōm)

v. boomed, boom·ing, booms

v. intr.

To make a deep, resonant sound.
To grow, develop, or progress rapidly; flourish: Business is booming.

v. tr.

To utter or give forth with a deep, resonant sound: a field commander booming out orders.
To cause to grow or flourish; boost.

A deep resonant sound, as of an explosion.
A time of economic prosperity.
A sudden increase, as in popularity.

[Middle English bomben, imitative of a loud noise.]

boom² (bōōm)

Nautical A long spar extending from a mast to hold or extend the foot of a sail.
A long pole extending upward at an angle from the mast of a derrick to support or guide objects being lifted or suspended.
1. A barrier composed of a chain of floating logs enclosing other free-floating logs, typically used to catch floating debris or to obstruct passage.
2. A floating barrier serving to contain an oil spill.
3. A spar that connects the tail surfaces and the main structure of an airplane.
4. A long hollow tube attached to a tanker aircraft, through which fuel flows to another aircraft being refueled in flight.
A long movable arm used to maneuver and support a microphone.
1. A spar that connects the tail surfaces and the main structure of an airplane.
2. A long hollow tube attached to a tanker aircraft, through which fuel flows to another aircraft being refueled in flight.

tr.v. boomed, boom·ing, booms
To move or position using a crane: "The renegade logs somehow escaped while . . . the logs were boomed up into the mile-long rafts that ply these channels" (Jack Weatherford).

[Dutch, tree, pole, from Middle Dutch; see bheuə- in Indo-European roots.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source

Boom

Boom\ (b[=oo]m), n. [D. boom tree, pole, beam, bar. See Beam.]

1. (Naut.) A long pole or spar, run out for the purpose of extending the bottom of a particular sail; as, the jib boom, the studding-sail boom, etc.

2. (Mech.) A long spar or beam, projecting from the mast of a derrick, from the outer end of which the body to be lifted is suspended.

3. A pole with a conspicuous top, set up to mark the channel in a river or harbor. [Obs.]

4. (Mil. & Naval) A strong chain cable, or line of spars bound together, extended across a river or the mouth of a harbor, to obstruct navigation or passage.

5. (Lumbering) A line of connected floating timbers stretched across a river, or inclosing an area of water, to keep saw logs, etc., from floating away.

Boom iron, one of the iron rings on the yards through which the studding-sail booms traverse.

The booms, that space on the upper deck of a ship between the foremast and mainmast, where the boats, spare spars, etc., are stowed. --Totten.

Boom

Boom\ (b[=oo]m), v. t. (Naut.) To extend, or push, with a boom or pole; as, to boom out a sail; to boom off a boat.

Boom

Boom\ (b[=oo]m), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Boomed, p. pr. & vb. n. Booming.] [Of imitative origin; cf. OE. bommen to hum, D. bommen to drum, sound as an empty barrel, also W. bwmp a hollow sound; aderyn y bwmp, the bird of the hollow sound, i. e., the bittern. Cf. Bum, Bump, v. i., Bomb, v. i.]

1. To cry with a hollow note; to make a hollow sound, as the bittern, and some insects.

At eve the beetle boometh Athwart the thicket lone. --Tennyson.

2. To make a hollow sound, as of waves or cannon.

Alarm guns booming through the night air. --W. Irving.

3. To rush with violence and noise, as a ship under a press of sail, before a free wind.

She comes booming down before it. --Totten.

4. To have a rapid growth in market value or in popular favor; to go on rushingly.

Boom

Boom\, n. 1. A hollow roar, as of waves or cannon; also, the hollow cry of the bittern; a booming.

2. A strong and extensive advance, with more or less noisy excitement; -- applied colloquially or humorously to market prices, the demand for stocks or commodities and to political chances of aspirants to office; as, a boom in the stock market; a boom in coffee. [Colloq. U. S.]

Boom

Boom\, v. t. To cause to advance rapidly in price; as, to boom railroad or mining shares; to create a "boom" for; as to boom Mr. C. for senator. [Colloq. U. S.]

Language Translation for : boom

Spanish: boom, auge,

German: der Aufschwung,

Japanese: ブーム

More Translations »

boom (v.)

c.1440, earliest use was for bees and wasps, probably echoic of humming. The meaning "make a loud noise" is 15c. Boom box first attested 1978.

boom (n.)

"long pole," 1543, from Scottish boun, borrowed from Du. boom "tree, pole, beam," from a M.Du. word analogous to O.E. beam. The business sense (1873) is sometimes said to be from this word, from the nautical meaning "a long spar run out to extend the foot of a sail;" a ship "booming" being one in full sail. But it could just as well be from boom (v.), on the notion of "suddenness."

Boom

A period of time during which sales or business activity increases rapidly.

Investopedia Commentary

In the stock market, booms are associated with bull markets. Conversely, busts are associated with bear markets. The cyclical nature of the market and the economy in general suggests that every bull market in history has been followed by a bear market.

The internet technologies boom in the late '90s was one of the largest booms in history (followed by one of the biggest busts in history).

boom

see lower the boom.

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