Category:Bomb

Bomb, n. Etym: [F. bombe bombshell, fr. L. bombus a humming or buzzing noise, Gr. .]

1. A great noise; a hollow sound. [Obs.] A pillar of iron. . . which if you had struck, would make. . . a great bomb in the chamber beneath. Bacon.

2. (Mil.)

Defn: A shell; esp. a spherical shell, like those fired from mortars. See Shell.

3. A bomb ketch. Bomb chest (Mil.), a chest filled with bombs, or only with gunpowder, placed under ground, to cause destruction by its explosion. -- Bomb ketch, Bomb vessel (Naut.), a small ketch or vessel, very strongly built, on which mortars are mounted to be used in naval bombardments; -- called also mortar vessel. -- Bomb lance, a lance or harpoon with an explosive head, used in whale fishing. -- Volcanic bomb, a mass of lava of a spherical or pear shape. "I noticed volcanic bombs." Darwin.

Bomb Bomb, v. t.

Defn: To bombard. [Obs.] Prior.

Bomb Bomb, v. i. Etym: [Cf. Boom.]

Defn: To sound; to boom; to make a humming or buzzing sound. [Obs.] B. Jonson.