bomb

bomb¹ W3S2 [bɔm US ba:m] n

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1¦(weapon)¦

2¦(bad performance/event)¦

3 be the bomb

4 the bomb

5 cost a bomb

6 make a bomb

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[Date: 1600-1700; : French; Origin: bombe, from Italian bomba, probably from Latin bombus 'deep sound', from Greek bombos, from the sound]

1.) ¦(WEAPON)¦

a weapon made of material that will explode

▪ Fortunately the house was empty when the bomb exploded .

▪ The bomb went off at 9.30 in the morning.

▪ Enemy planes dropped over 200 bombs during the raid.

▪ Terrorists had planted a bomb somewhere in the station.

▪ One theory is that the bomb was detonated by remote control.

▪ Unexploded bombs were found there as late as the 1960s.

▪ a bomb attack on a crowded bus in the city centre

▪ The station was closed for six hours following a bomb threat .

▪ the bomb blast that killed one and injured more than 100 people

→↑atomic bomb, ↑car bomb, ↑cluster bomb, ↑hydrogen bomb, ↑letter bomb, ↑neutron bomb, ↑nuclear bomb, ↑parcel bomb, ↑petrol bomb, ↑smart bomb, ↑smoke bomb, ↑stink bomb, ↑time bomb

2.) ¦(BAD PERFORMANCE/EVENT)¦

AmE informal a play, film, event etc that is not successful

▪ This is just another one of Hollywood's bland and boring bombs.

3.) be the bomb informal

to be very good or exciting

▪ That new P Diddy CD is the bomb.

4.) the bomb

used to describe ↑nuclear weapons, and especially the ↑hydrogen bomb

▪ Voices of dissent began to rise against the bomb.

5.) cost a bomb

BrE informal to cost a lot of money

6.) make a bomb

BrE informal to get a lot of money by doing something

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COLLOCATES for sense 1

a bomb explodes/goes off

drop a bomb

plant a bomb (=leave a bomb somewhere)

detonate a bomb (=make a bomb explode)

unexploded bomb

bomb attack

bomb threat

bomb blast

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bomb ²

bomb² v

1.) [T]

to attack a place by leaving a bomb there, or by dropping bombs on it from a plane

▪ The town was heavily bombed in World War II.

▪ Government aircraft have been bombing civilian areas.

→↑carpet-bomb, ↑dive-bomb

2.) [I always + adverb/preposition] BrE informal to move or drive very quickly

▪ Suddenly a police car came bombing down the high street.

3.) [I and T] AmE informal to fail a test very badly

▪ I bombed my midterm.

4.) [i]AmE

if a play, film, event etc bombs, it is not successful

▪ His latest play bombed on Broadway.

be bombed out phr v

if a building or the people in it are bombed out, the building is completely destroyed

▪ My family were bombed out in 1941.