boom

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   To grow or develop very quickly and successfully.

   The city's population boomed in recent years.

2. 2
   noun

   A period of rapid growth or sudden success, especially in business.

   The new factories created an economic boom in the region.

3. 3
   verb

   To make a deep, loud, echoing sound.

   Thunder boomed in the distance.

Onomatopoeic, perhaps borrowed; compare German bummen, Dutch bommen (“to hum, buzz”). The sense "a period of economic growth" is generally taken to derive from the sense "a rapid expansion", although other origins have also been suggested.

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