Bomb (?), n. [F. bombe bombshell, fr. L. bombus a humming or buzzing noise, Gr. .]
1.
A great noise; a hollow sound.
[Obs.]
A pillar of iron . . . which if you had struck, would make . . . a great bomb in the chamber beneath.
Bacon.
2. Mil.
A shell; esp. a spherical shell, like those fired from mortars. See Shell.
3.
A bomb ketch.
Bomb chest Mil., a chest filled with bombs, or only with gunpowder, placed under ground, to cause destruction by its explosion. -- Bomb ketch, Bomb vessel Naut., a small ketch or vessel, very strongly built, on which mortars are mounted to be used in naval bombardments; -- called also mortar vessel. -- Bomb lance, a lance or harpoon with an explosive head, used in whale fishing. -- Volcanic bomb, a mass of lava of a spherical or pear shape. "I noticed volcanic bombs."
Darwin.
© Webster 1913.
Bomb, v. t.
To bombard.
[Obs.]
Prior.
© Webster 1913.
Bomb, v. i. [Cf. Boom.]
To sound; to boom; to make a humming or buzzing sound.
[Obs.]
B. Jonson.
© Webster 1913.