bomb

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   to throw explosives at or attack with explosives

   They bombed the convenience store during a riot.

2. 2
   verb

   to fail to get a passing grade

   I totally bombed that math test.

3. 3
   noun

   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.

4. 4
   noun

   Any explosive charge.

   The mineworkers are setting their bombs.

5. 5
   noun

   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.

6. 6
   noun

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

   That turkey fryer is a bomb waiting to go off.

7. 7
   noun

   A fart.

   He just dropped a bomb.

8. 8
   noun

   A failure; an unpopular commercial product.

   box-office bomb

Etymology

From French bombe, from Italian bomba, from Latin bombus (“a booming sound”), from Ancient Greek βόμβος (bómbos, “booming, humming, buzzing”), imitative of the sound itself. Doublet of bombe. Compare boom.