bomb

noun

1. 1

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

   The size of the ground hole crater from the blast indicates it was a bomb.

2. 2

   datedAn explosive device used or intended as a weapon, especially, one dropped from an aircraft. The atomic bomb.

   During the Cold War, everyone worried about the bomb sometimes.

3. 3

   figurativeAn explosive device used or intended as a weapon, especially, one dropped from an aircraft. Events or conditions that have a speedy destructive effect.

   If Alberta’s reserves are a carbon bomb, this global expansion of tar sands and oil shale exploitation amounts to an escalating emissions arms race, the unlocking of a subterranean cache of weapons of mass ecological destruction.

   "The hard Brexiteers have built a bomb under the UK automotive industry and the EU have lit it," they said.

   Mr. Gaetz’s loyalty to Mr. Trump, and willingness to toss proverbial bombs in Washington’s corridors of power, has shown no bounds, at least in public.

4. 4

   archaicAn explosive device used or intended as a weapon, especially, one dropped from an aircraft. A grenade, mortar shell, or artillery shell.

   And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air / Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there

5. 5

   Any explosive charge.

   The mineworkers are setting their bombs.

6. 6

   A bag or balloon containing a substance such as water, flour, or paint, designed to burst and splatter.

   The children are playing with water bombs in the garden.

   Activists threw paint bombs at the famous artwork.

7. 7

   figurativeAnything that is at risk of exploding (literally) or that has exploded.

   That turkey fryer is a bomb waiting to go off.

   The gas leak tragically turned the house into a bomb.

8. 8

   A fart.

   He just dropped a bomb.

9. 9

   slangA failure; an unpopular commercial product.

   box-office bomb

   Projection problems plagued Countess’ London premiere on January 5, 1967, Jerry Epstein recalled, and it was perhaps an omen, for reaction by critics afterward was swift and immediate: The film was a bomb.

   The movie was a bomb and so was my next film, Balboa, in which I played a scheming real estate tycoon.

   The movie was a bomb, but it put the band before an even larger audience.

10. 10

    informalA car in poor condition.

    Nowadays, an old bomb simply won’t pass the inspection.

    We′ve got the money and it just feels ridiculous to let you drive around in that old bomb.

    After two weeks of driving it she knew the car was a bomb and she did not need anyone saying it to her. The only one allowed to pick on her car was her. Piece of crap car[…]

11. 11

    slangA large amount of money.

    make a bomb

    cost a bomb

    When Kiley presented Blackpool with the custom shotgun, he said, “This must′ve cost a bomb.”

    'You′ve already spent a bomb!' 'Not on it, Sal — under it. Presents!' As we eventually staggered up to bed, Sally said to me, 'I hope to God he's not been spending a bomb on presents, too.[…]'

12. 12

    slangSomething highly effective or attractive. A success; the bomb.

    Our fabulous new crumpets have been selling like a bomb.

13. 13

    slangSomething highly effective or attractive. A very attractive woman.

14. 14

    Something highly effective or attractive. An action or statement that causes a strong reaction.

    It was an ordinary speech, until the president dropped a bomb: he would be retiring for medical reasons.

15. 15

    Something highly effective or attractive. An action or statement that causes a strong reaction. An obscene word identified by its first letter.

    Normally very controlled, he dropped the F-bomb and cursed the paparazzi.

16. 16

    slangSomething highly effective or attractive. A long forward pass.

17. 17

    slangSomething highly effective or attractive. A high kick that sends the ball relatively straight up so players can get under it before it comes down.

18. 18

    slangSomething highly effective or attractive. A throw into the basket from a considerable distance.

    With five seconds remaining, Smith received the inbounds pass and launched a bomb that dropped through the net to give his team an 80-79 victory.

19. 19

    slangSomething highly effective or attractive. A highly potent joint (cannabis cigarette).

    Give me two bucks, you take a puff and pass my bomb back / Suck up that dank like a Slurpee, the serious / Bomb will make a niggy go delirious like Eddie Murphy

20. 20

    informalSomething highly effective or attractive. A piece of food, often small, usually intensely flavored.

    Bacon-wrapped sausage stuffed with cheese, onions, jalapenos, and more bacon is as artery-clogging as it is delicious! […] Remove bacon bomb from the smoker; let rest for 30 minutes before slicing.

    Amazing Pepperoni Pizza Bombs explode with flavor with every bite! They are loaded with pepperoni, cheese, and sauce to create a delicious POP of flavor in your mouth – hence the name!

    These Air Fryer Breakfast Bombs are always a huge hit at our house! Light and flaky biscuit dough wrapped around your favorite breakfast items and baked until golden brown in the air fryer.

21. 21

    A cyclone whose central pressure drops at an average rate of at least one millibar per hour for at least 24 hours.

    A bomb for this study is defined as one in which the deepening rate is the geostrophic equivalent of at least 12 mb in 12 h at 45ºN.

22. 22

    A heavy-walled container designed to permit chemical reactions under high pressure.

    The process consisted in preparing the metal by metallothermic reduction of titanium tetrachloride with sodium metal in a steel bomb.

23. 23

    obsoleteA great booming noise; a hollow sound.

    a Pillar of Iron […] Which if you had ſtrucke […] it would make a great Bombe in the Chamber beneath.

24. 24

    slangA woman’s breast.

    Birdie was okay, and occasionally in passing Mort would give her a slap on the behind, or cop of feel of those bombs of hers.

    voices from the crowd: Hit her below the belt. (Laughter) voices:Her bombs might explode!

    The fact that this girl had the greatest rack of any female athlete ever and got her bombs reduced is getting major play in the mainstream press

25. 25

    A professional wrestling throw in which an opponent is lifted and then slammed back-first down to the mat.

26. 26

    slangA recreational drug ground up, wrapped, and swallowed.

27. 27

    An act of jumping into water while keeping one's arms and legs tucked into the body, as in a squatting position, to maximize splashing.

    In clear contravention of the International Code of Conduct for Swimming Baths, a teenager had entered the pool by performing a bomb.

28. 28

    Variant of bomb shiparchaicAn explosive device used or intended as a weapon, especially, one dropped from an aircraft. Ellipsis of bomb ship.

29. 29

    Variant of boomarchaicAn explosive device used or intended as a weapon, especially, one dropped from an aircraft. Alternative form of boom (“barrier used to obstruct navigation for military or other purposes”)

    Juſt by the Black Sea are two Caſtles, one in Europe and the other in Aſia […] Anciently a Chain or Bomb lay acroſs from Caſtle to Caſtle, to prevent the paſſing of Ships in troublesome times.

    they make no doubt of being Maſters of the Iſland, but the Entrance to the Place intended to be next attack’d, being ſecur’d by a Chain or Bomb the breaking of which might greatly damage their Shipping, they deferr’d attempting it before more arriv’d

verb

1. 1

   To attack using one or more bombs; to bombard.

   2000, Canadian Peace Research Institute, Canadian Peace Research and Education Association, Peace Research, Volumes 32-33, page 65, 15 May: US jets bombed air-defence sites north of Mosul, as the Russian Foreign Ministry accused the US and Britain of intentionally bombing civilian targets. (AP)

   Italy had bombed cities in the Ethiopian war; Italy and Germany had bombed civilians in the Spanish Civil War; at the start of World War II German planes dropped bombs on Rotterdam in Holland, Coventry in England, and elsewhere.

   Essendon was bombed in the early hours of 3 September 1916; a few houses and part of the church were destroyed, and two sisters killed.

   [object Object]

2. 2

   figurativeTo attack using one or more bombs; to bombard. To attack or annoy in the manner of a bombing.

   School days have been missed or cut short many times to accommodate soccer travel through the years, but this return felt different. Photos posted on his social media documenting the experience were seen by classmates, many of whom bombed him with questions about his future in the sport.

3. 3

   informalTo jump into water in a squatting position, with the arms wrapped around the legs, in order to maximise the resulting splash.

4. 4

   informalTo add an excessive amount of chlorine to a pool when it has not been maintained properly.

5. 5

   informalTo move at high speed.

   I was bombing down the road on my motorbike.

6. 6

   slangTo make oneself drunk.

   The calendar was selling Moctezuma beer, so I had one of them in her honor while Murray bombed himself with the mezcal.

   TED: The champagne you ordered, sir. MAN: No time for this. Leave it on ice. WIFE: But I want some now... MAN: There'll be plenty for you at the party, baby, you can bomb yourself all you want at the party.

7. 7

   slangTo cover an area in many graffiti tags.

   It is often used to collect other writer's tags, and future plans for bombing and piecing.

8. 8

   slangTo fail dismally.

   I totally bombed that exam.

   The nondiscrimination measures bombed at the polls, losing 18 percent to 82 percent. One gay activist in the city told GCN, "We got whupped."

   So Hall quit the job, turned in the company car and went to Chicago, where as a stand-up comic he bombed several times before he was discovered by Nancy Wilson, who took him on the road — where he bombed again before a room of Republicans—and then to Los Angeles.

   2000, Carmen Infantino, Jon B. Cooke (interviewer), The Carmen Infantino Interview, in Jon B. Cooke, Neal Adams, Comic Book Artist Collection, page 12, Carmen: […] Then it bombed and it bombed badly. After a few more issues I asked Mike what was happening and he said, “I′m trying everything I can but it′s just not working.” So I took him off the book and he left. That was it.

9. 9

   slangTo crash.

   When things weren't going Alison's way at work — some editor wanted something changed or her computer bombed again — she'd cuss and yell at whoever happened to be in the way.

10. 10

    slangTo make a smelly mess in (a toilet).

11. 11

    obsoleteTo sound; to boom; to make a humming or buzzing sound.

    What over-charged piece of melancholie / Is this, breakes in betweene my wishes thus, / With bombing sighs?

12. 12

    slangSynonym of parachute (“wrap illicit drugs in a covering before swallowing them”).

adjective

1. 1

   slangGreat, awesome.

   Have you tried the new tacos from that restaurant? They're pretty bomb!

Forms

plural

bombs

comparative

more bomb

superlative

most bomb

past tense

bombed

past participle

bombed

present participle

bombing

third person singular

bombs