/ bɒm; NAmE bɑːm/ noun , verb
■ noun
1.
[ C ] a weapon designed to explode at a particular time or when it is dropped or thrown :
a bomb attack / blast / explosion
a bomb goes off / explodes
extensive bomb damage
Hundreds of bombs were dropped on the city.
—see also dirty bomb
2.
the bomb [ sing. ] nuclear weapons ( atomic or hydrogen bombs) :
countries which have the bomb
3.
a bomb [ sing. ] ( BrE , informal ) a lot of money :
That dress must have cost a bomb!
4.
a bomb [ sing. ] ( NAmE , informal ) a complete failure :
The musical was a complete bomb on Broadway.
5.
( NAmE ) ( in American football ) a long forward throw of the ball
6.
( NAmE ) a container in which a liquid such as paint or insect poison is kept under pressure and released as a spray or as foam :
a bug bomb (= used for killing insects)
•
IDIOMS
- be the bomb
- go down a bomb | go (like) a bomb
- go like a bomb
■ verb
1.
[ vn ] to attack sb/sth by leaving a bomb in a place or by dropping bombs from a plane :
Terrorists bombed several army barracks.
The city was heavily bombed in the war.
2.
[ v + adv. / prep. ] ( BrE , informal ) to move very fast, especially in a vehicle, in a particular direction :
They were bombing down the road at about 80 miles an hour.
3.
( NAmE , informal ) to fail a test or an exam very badly :
[ vn ]
The exam was impossible! I definitely bombed it.
[also v ]
4.
[ v ] ( informal ) ( of a play, show, etc. ) to fail very badly :
His latest musical bombed and lost thousands of dollars.
•
PHRASAL VERBS
- be bombed out (of sth)
••
WORD ORIGIN
late 17th cent.: from French bombe , from Italian bomba , probably from Latin bombus booming, humming, from Greek bombos , of imitative origin.