The Collaborative International Dictionary
Bomb \Bomb\, n. [F. bombe bombshell, fr. L. bombus a humming or buzzing noise, Gr. ?.]
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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. (Mil.) A shell; esp. a spherical shell, like those fired from mortars. See Shell.
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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.
Usage examples of "bomb lance".
One of the Yankee mates then fired a bomb lance into the bear's hips, and the savage beast hobbled off into the dense cover of the low scrub, where the enraged sailor folk were unable to get at it.