• (British, Australia) IPA: /bɒm/
• (America) IPA: /bɑm/

bomb (plural bombs)

1. An explosive device used or intended as a weapon.
   • 2008, Sidney Gelb, Foreign Service Agent, [http://books.google.com.au/books?id=fTukkgLTlRwC&pg=PA629&dq=%22it+was+a+bomb%22+-intitle:%22%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=85_9ToqJJvCXiQel1bCxAQ&ved=0CGEQ6AEwCTgU#v=onepage&q=%22it%20was%20a%20bomb%22%20-intitle%3A%22%22&f=false page 629],

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

   1. (dated) The atomic bomb.

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

   2. (figurative) Events or conditions that have a speedy destructive effect.
   3. (colloquial) Any explosive charge.
2. (slang) A failure; an unpopular commercial product.

   box office bomb

   • 1997, Eric L. Flom, Chaplin in the Sound Era: An Analysis of the Seven Talkies, [http://books.google.com.au/books?id=R9NuChpopoAC&pg=PA277&dq=%22the+movie|film+was+a+bomb%22+-intitle:%22%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=LZP9TpugE6maiQe1sOj-Cg&sqi=2&ved=0CFEQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=%22the%20movie|film%20was%20a%20bomb%22%20-intitle%3A%22%22&f=false page 277],

     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.

   • 2010, Tony Curtis, Peter Golenbock, American Prince: My Autobiography, [http://books.google.com.au/books?id=SZBqav49IBMC&pg=PT286&dq=%22the+movie|film+was+a+bomb%22+-intitle:%22%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=LZP9TpugE6maiQe1sOj-Cg&sqi=2&ved=0CGIQ6AEwCA#v=onepage&q=%22the%20movie|film%20was%20a%20bomb%22%20-intitle%3A%22%22&f=false unnumbered page],

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

   • 2011, Elizabeth Barfoot Christian, Rock Brands: Selling Sound in a Media Saturated Culture, [http://books.google.com.au/books?id=Sj_6Mwvr4zcC&pg=PA11&dq=%22the+movie|film+was+a+bomb%22+-intitle:%22%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=aJv9TpWgCMaTiAeUv-WvAQ&ved=0CEwQ6AEwBTgK#v=onepage&q=%22the%20movie|film%20was%20a%20bomb%22%20-intitle%3A%22%22&f=false page 11],

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

   1. (US, Australia, informal) A car in poor condition.

      Synonyms: rustbucket

      • 2005 August 6, Warm affection for a rust-bucket past, Sydney Morning Herald

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

      • 2010, Rebecca James, Beautiful Malice, [http://books.google.com.au/books?id=aVIa9SylVbYC&pg=PA19&dq=%22old+bomb%22+-intitle:%22%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=AJ79TvGbIa-PiAf1q4ivAw&ved=0CDMQ6AEwATgo#v=onepage&q=%22old%20bomb%22%20-intitle%3A%22%22&f=false page 19],

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

      • 2011, Amarinda Jones, Seducing Celestine, [http://books.google.com.au/books?id=GGxWdLqvAKsC&pg=PA49&dq=%22the+car+was+a+bomb%22+-intitle:%22%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Oo79TqPJFcujiAf12eTPBA&ved=0CEAQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=%22the%20car%20was%20a%20bomb%22%20-intitle%3A%22%22&f=false page 49],

        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 […]

3. (UK, slang) A large amount of money.

   Synonyms: fortune, packet, pretty penny

   make a bomb

   cost a bomb

   • 2009, Matthew Vierling, The Blizzard, [http://books.google.com.au/books?id=Ld2ItnVTr4IC&pg=PA133&dq=%22cost+a+bomb%22+-intitle:%22%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=hL39TpTrCu6PiAe3n5D1DQ&sqi=2&ved=0CGwQ6AEwCQ#v=onepage&q=%22cost%20a%20bomb%22%20-intitle%3A%22%22&f=false page 133],

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

   • 2010, Liz Young, Fair Game, [http://books.google.com.au/books?id=Rrgw8pvkhT4C&pg=PA136&dq=%22spent|cost+a+bomb%22+-intitle:%22%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=4MH9TqmICbGaiAfXpcDVAQ&ved=0CF0Q6AEwCTgK#v=onepage&q=%22spent|cost%20a%20bomb%22%20-intitle%3A%22%22&f=false page 136],

     ‘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. […] ’

   • 2011, Michael R. Häack, Passport: A Novel of International Intrigue, [http://books.google.com.au/books?id=704NYg5NrfMC&pg=PA47&dq=%22spent|cost+a+bomb%22+-intitle:%22%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=4MH9TqmICbGaiAfXpcDVAQ&ved=0CFcQ6AEwCDgK#v=onepage&q=%22spent|cost%20a%20bomb%22%20-intitle%3A%22%22&f=false page 47],

     The kids cost a bomb to feed, they eat all the time.

   • 2011, Bibe, A Victim, [http://books.google.com.au/books?id=OvZOl56c7N8C&pg=PA38&dq=%22spent|cost+a+bomb%22+-intitle:%22%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=4MH9TqmICbGaiAfXpcDVAQ&ved=0CE0Q6AEwBjgK#v=onepage&q=%22spent|cost%20a%20bomb%22%20-intitle%3A%22%22&f=false page 38],

     He had recently exchanged his old bike for a new, three speed racer, which cost a bomb and the weekly payment were becoming difficult, with the dangers of repossession.

4. (social) Something highly effective or attractive.
   1. (chiefly, British, slang) A success; the bomb.

      Our fabulous new crumpets have been selling like a bomb.

   2. (chiefly, British, India, slang) A very attractive woman.

      Synonyms: bombshell

   3. (often, in combination) 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.

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

   4. (American football, slang) A long forward pass.
   5. (basketball, slang) A throw into the basket from a considerable distance.
      • 2013, Brett L. Abrams, ‎Raphael Mazzone, The Bullets, the Wizards, and Washington, DC, Basketball (page 163)

        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.

5. A cyclone whose central pressure drops at an average rate of at least one millibar per hour for at least 24 hours.
6. (chemistry) A heavy-walled container designed to permit chemical reactions under high pressure.
   • 2008, François Cardarelli, Materials Handbook: A Concise Desktop Reference, page 276 ↗,

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

7. (obsolete) A great booming noise; a hollow sound.
   • 1627, [Francis Bacon], “II. Century.”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], London: Published after the authors death, by VVilliam Rawley; printed by I[ohn] H[aviland and Augustine Mathewes] for William Lee […], OCLC 1044242069 ↗; Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], 3rd edition, London: Published […] by VVilliam Rawley. Printed by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], 1631, OCLC 1044372886 ↗, paragraph 151, [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=dul1.ark:/13960/t8v991c13;view=1up;seq=65 page 47]:

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

8. (slang) A woman’s breast.
9. (professional wrestling) A professional wrestling throw in which an opponent is lifted and then slammed back-first down to the mat.
10. (slang) A recreational drug ground up, wrapped, and swallowed.
11. (colloquial) 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.

    Synonyms: cannonball

• French: bombe, explosif
• German: Bombe, Sprengstoff
• Italian: bomba, explosivo
• Portuguese: bomba
• Russian: бо́мба
• Spanish: bomba, explosivo

• Russian: развалю́ха

• French: bombe, bombe sexuelle
• Italian: bomba
• Russian: красо́тка

• German: Bombe
• Russian: сосу́д высокий

• French: bombe
• German: Arschbombe
• Russian: бо́мбочка

bomb (bombs, present participle bombing; past and past participle bombed)

1. (transitive, intransitive) 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, [http://books.google.com.au/books?id=0b8HAQAAMAAJ&q=%22bombing%22|%22bombed%22+-intitle:%22bombing|bombed%22&dq=%22bombing%22|%22bombed%22+-intitle:%22bombing|bombed%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=89H9TpLeI8eUiAfyq8W7AQ&redir_esc=y 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)

   • 2005, Howard Zinn, A People's History of the United States: 1492-Present, [http://books.google.com.au/books?id=Vu-hxQypyjkC&pg=PA421&dq=%22bombing%22|%22bombed%22+-intitle:%22bombing|bombed%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=WM79TsG7DeyhiAen6LXGAQ&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=%22bombing%22|%22bombed%22%20-intitle%3A%22bombing|bombed%22&f=false page 421],

     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.

   • 2007, David Parker, Hertfordshire Children in War and Peace, 1914-1939, [http://books.google.com.au/books?id=T9v-hd7HCFMC&pg=PA59&dq=%22bombing%22|%22bombed%22+-intitle:%22bombing|bombed%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=7Mv9Ttn4MMmWiQeL59TFCQ&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=%22bombing%22|%22bombed%22%20-intitle%3A%22bombing|bombed%22&f=false page 59],

     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.

2. (intransitive, slang) To fail dismally.
   • 1992 June, Lynn Norment, Arsenio Hall: Claiming the Late-night Crown, in Ebony, [http://books.google.com.au/books?id=r8wDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA74&dq=%22he|it+bombed%22+-intitle:%22bombing|bombed%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=v9b9Tsz_MM-QiQeBz5CADw&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=%22he|it%20bombed%22%20-intitle%3A%22bombing|bombed%22&f=false page 74],

     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, [http://books.google.com.au/books?id=H3Zv6DN7eRIC&pg=PA12&dq=%22he|it+bombed%22+-intitle:%22bombing|bombed%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=v9b9Tsz_MM-QiQeBz5CADw&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=%22he|it%20bombed%22%20-intitle%3A%22bombing|bombed%22&f=false 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.

   • 2008, Erik Sternberger, The Long and Winding Road, [http://books.google.com.au/books?id=7WWxLcoAGqAC&pg=PA62&dq=%22he|it+bombed%22+-intitle:%22bombing|bombed%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Itz9ToLbCuuXiAe1q-2fCQ&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=%22he|it%20bombed%22%20-intitle%3A%22bombing|bombed%22&f=false page 62],

     She was the reason why he bombed the interview. He just couldn′t seem to get her out of his mind.

3. (informal) To jump into water in a squatting position, with the arms wrapped around the legs.
4. (obsolete) To sound; to boom; to make a humming or buzzing sound.
   • 1625, Ben Jonson, The Fortunate Isles and Their Union

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

5. (slang) To cover an area in many graffiti tags.
6. (informal) To add an excessive amount of chlorine to a pool when it has not been maintained properly.
7. (slang, reflexive) To make oneself drunk.
   • 1995, Four Rooms (film)

     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.

8. (informal, especially with along, down, up etc.) To move at high speed.

   I was bombing down the road on my motorbike.

• French: bombarder
• German: bombardieren
• Italian: bombardare
• Portuguese: bombardear, bombear
• Russian: бомби́ть
• Spanish: bombardear, bombear

• German: eine Arschbombe machen
• Spanish: hacer la bomba

bomb

1. (slang) Great, awesome.

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

bomb

1. (informal) The atomic bomb; the capacity to launch a nuclear attack.

   Pakistan and India both have the Bomb now.