/ grəˈneɪd; NAmE / noun
a small bomb that can be thrown by hand or fired from a gun
—see also hand grenade
••
WORD ORIGIN
mid 16th cent. (in the sense pomegranate ): from French , alteration of Old French (pome) grenate , from pome apple + grenate pomegranate, on the pattern of Spanish granada . The bomb was so named because it supposedly resembled a pomegranate in shape.