Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English homepage

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

bomb

1 noun
     
NEW! See related topics: WEAPONSBOMBS AND TERRORISM
bomb1 S2 W3 [countable]
1

weapon

PMW a weapon made of material that will explodeCOLLOCATIONS COLLOCATIONS
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
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 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

American English 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

PMW used to describe nuclear weapons, and especially the hydrogen bomb:
Voices of dissent began to rise against the bomb.
5

cost a bomb

British English informal to cost a lot of money
6

make a bomb

British English informal to get a lot of money by doing something
Definition from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
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