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What is "explode"

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explode
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
explode
verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a bomb explodes/goes off
▪ Forty people were injured when the bomb exploded.
▪ A 200 pound bomb went off in the car park.
explode with rage (also fly into a rage) (= suddenly become very angry)
▪ She knew her father would explode with rage if he found out.
explode/dispel/debunk a myth (=show that it is not true)
▪ Our goal is to debunk the myth that science is boring.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
suddenly
▪ He's apparently unbelievable at doing the possessed Curtis dance, where the quietest of men would suddenly explode into compressed derangement.
▪ Parent and child suddenly explode, screaming and hitting.
▪ Before she could get in another word, a loud noise suddenly exploded from within the house.
▪ By ninth grade the difference suddenly exploded.
■ NOUN
anger
▪ Nicola explodes with anger when she discovers stud boss Andrew has been taking her for a ride.
▪ Who would ever guess from the benign expression on his face that just a moment ago he had been exploding with anger?
▪ After the hearing, as the vans taking the boys from the court emerged the crowd exploded with anger.
▪ MiloÜ exploded with anger when the letter was read out to him.
▪ As soon as you make a nervous slip, he explodes with anger - humiliating you in front of colleagues.
▪ Normally loving and full of fun, Peter can explode with passionate anger at James and Mary, their fourteen-year-old twins.
bomb
▪ On Jan. 22 two bombs exploded simultaneously in the police headquarters and court buildings in New Delhi, injuring 43 people.
▪ All of the bombs were removed and disabled by the New York Police Department bomb squad before they exploded.
▪ A bomb which exploded in Istanbul's chamber of commerce building on Feb. 20 killed one person and injured 16.
▪ Earlier Monday morning, a letter bomb exploded in the London offices of Al-Hayat, injuring two mail clerks.
▪ A number of petrol bombs exploded harmlessly between the protesters and the security forces.
▪ A police spokesman said the bomb exploded when the passenger bus was passing through the Noorbagh area of north Srinagar.
▪ The player thrown to must try and catch the bomb before it explodes.
▪ Tom Hawthorne was at the Social Security office picking up paperwork for a disabled associate when the bomb exploded.
car
▪ They walked in the street knowing that any of the cars around them might explode.
▪ Meanwhile a car-bomb exploded in SanSebastian, injuring five people.
▪ Around 12 people were killed when a car bomb exploded outside a police station in the Chechen capital, Grozny.
device
▪ Only three of the devices found did not explode.
▪ The device exploded in an underground passageway at the Belorusskaya station, officials said.
▪ An incendiary device exploded setting fire to furniture, but the blaze was brought under control.
▪ A few of these devices should be exploded every year to test whether the refurbishing is working up to snuff.
▪ A blast bomb was thrown but the device failed to explode.
face
▪ According to the above, they will explode in my face.
▪ It would explode in the face of its inventors without that tiny heart of a self.
▪ It was about to explode in her face.
▪ The custard explodes over your face.
fire
▪ Small blooms of fire exploded all around the sandbagged post and the steel door, the defenders huddling down for cover.
▪ She was set on fire by a shell exploding among the cotton with which her engines were protected.
firework
▪ Police arrested 12 people in the city centre before the match and fireworks continued to explode throughout the game.
▪ If nothing else, it will be a great spot to watch the annual Fourth of July fireworks, exploding far below.
▪ He was standing in the dark, in front of a picture window, fireworks exploding silently behind him.
▪ The fireworks were still exploding when the procession came to an end over in hour later.
▪ A fireworks factory exploded in Guangdong, killing many workers.
head
▪ The thought went exploding through Shiona's head, winding her, driving the strength from her body.
▪ One of the bullets explodes in the head of the 3-year-old girl sleeping in the back seat.
▪ His incompletely assembled weapon exploded, smothering his head, arms and shoulders in a mass of flames.
myth
▪ First, they explode various current myths.
▪ The report explodes the myth that men are the bed-hopping rogues while the little woman waits at home.
▪ This series sets out to explode the myth that some are impossible to keep.
▪ At last, I thought, some one is willing to explode the myth that thin equals sexy!
▪ It explodes the myth prevalent among pupils at school that history graduates mainly become history teachers.
▪ It is therefore time to explode another myth.
▪ Unusual position though it is, let me defend Ratner by exploding a couple of myths.
plane
▪ Seconds after Andrews had dragged away the pilot, the plane exploded, and was reduced to a smouldering wreck.
▪ As Burn tried to tend him the plane exploded.
shell
▪ Two howitzer shells exploded a few paces from his horse, both blasts beginning small fires among the rye.
▪ A shell exploded just in front of me, and just over a woman as she ran across the street.
▪ On impact the shells explode in a fire ball, producing a fine dust.
▪ She was set on fire by a shell exploding among the cotton with which her engines were protected.
▪ A shell had exploded in the body of one of them, tearing it to pieces; others were torn and wounded.
▪ They were devising a sea shell that would explode when he went swimming.
tank
▪ He was welding on top of a 900 ton oil storage tank which exploded, hurling him 120 feet into a wall.
▪ The fuel tanks had exploded and the temperature in the burning fuselage was 2,000 degrees centigrade.
violence
▪ Or at least he did until the frenzy of violence that exploded here last week.
■ VERB
cause
▪ Weaknesses in the casting methods can leave minute cracks or other deficiencies which cause them to explode when fired.
▪ Dexter moved his chair over the kitchen tiles causing a squeak that exploded round the kitchen.
▪ The poor-quality steel can affect accuracy and occasionally causes a barrel to explode.
▪ However, it is thought that that can cause imperfections in the glass which sometimes cause it to explode without warning.
fail
▪ It failed to explode only because of a faulty detonator.
▪ Gunpowder can fail to ignite or explode prematurely.
seem
▪ Love and joy seemed to explode inside her, threatening to spill over into cries of happiness.
▪ In those weeks, my life seemed to have exploded.
▪ On top of this, the environmental time bomb that has been ticking away for years now seems ready to explode.
▪ And, as their pressure increased, Laura felt a brilliant light seeming to explode in both her mind and body.
▪ Alex grinned mightily, so proud of her he seemed about to explode.
▪ My hand seemed to explode and I think I must have screamed.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ "Country music's popularity has exploded," says Billy Dean.
▪ "Damn it!" Bill exploded. "Don't push me, Harry."
▪ A fight exploded at the roller-skating rink last Friday.
▪ Firefighters were called when a gas tank exploded in the back yard of a home on Clayton Road.
▪ In 1949 the USSR exploded its first atomic bomb.
▪ Investigators still don't what caused the storage tanks to explode.
▪ Seconds after the car crashed, its fuel tank exploded.
▪ The report explodes the myth that men are bed-hopping rogues.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ Another stun grenade was thrown in and a third soldier hurled himself through the window after it, before it had exploded.
▪ I heard the whoosh, and it exploded to our left.
▪ If you roll a misfire when you roll the first dice the cannon has literally misfired and may explode.
▪ Sly shot a glance at Zimmerman, who was obviously getting ready to explode.
▪ So far, only the sound of exploding ammo occasionally popped over the sound of the Huey.
▪ We had one hit with mines and incoming rounds, but we never had one explode, even when pressurized.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Explode

Explode \Ex*plode"\, v. t.

  1. To drive from the stage by noisy expressions of disapprobation; to hoot off; to drive away or reject noisily; as, to explode a play. [Obs.]

    Him old and young Exploded, and seized with violent hands.
    --Milton.

  2. To bring into disrepute, and reject; to drive from notice and acceptance; as, to explode a scheme, fashion, or doctrine.

    Old exploded contrivances of mercantile fraud.
    --Burke.

    To explode and exterminate dark atheism.
    --Bently.

  3. To cause to explode or burst noisily; to detonate; as, to explode powder by touching it with fire.

  4. To drive out with violence and noise, as by powder.

    But late the kindled powder did explode The massy ball and the brass tube unload.
    --Blackmore.

Explode

Explode \Ex*plode"\ ([e^]ks*pl[=o]d"), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Exploded; p. pr. & vb. n. Exploding.] [L. explodere, explosum, to drive out, drive out a player by clapping; ex out + plaudere, plodere, to clap, strike, applaud: cf. OF. exploder. See Plausible.]

  1. To become suddenly expanded into a great volume of gas or vapor; to burst violently into flame; as, gunpowder explodes.

  2. To burst with force and a loud report; to detonate, as a shell filled with powder or the like material, or as a boiler from too great pressure of steam.

  3. To burst forth with sudden violence and noise; as, at this, his wrath exploded.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
explode

1530s (transitive), "to reject with scorn," from Latin explodere "drive out or off by clapping, hiss off, hoot off," originally theatrical, "to drive an actor off the stage by making noise," hence "drive out, reject, destroy the repute of" (a sense surviving in an exploded theory), from ex- "out" (see ex-) + plaudere "to clap the hands, applaud," which is of uncertain origin. Athenian audiences were highly demonstrative. clapping and shouting approval, stamping, hissing, and hooting for disapproval. The Romans seem to have done likewise.\n\nAt the close of the performance of a comedy in the Roman theatre one of the actors dismissed the audience, with a request for their approbation, the expression being usually plaudite, vos plaudite, or vos valete et plaudite.

[William Smith, "A First Latin Reading Book," 1890]

\nEnglish used it to mean "drive out with violence and sudden noise" (1650s), later "cause to burst suddenly and noisily" (1794). Intransitive sense of "go off with a loud noise" is from 1790, American English; figurative sense of "to burst with destructive force" is by 1882; that of "burst into sudden activity" is from 1817; of population by 1959. Related: Exploded; exploding.
Wiktionary
explode

vb. 1 (context transitive English) To destroy with an explosion. 2 (context transitive English) To destroy violently or abruptly. 3 (context transitive English) To create an exploded view. 4 (context transitive archaic English) To disprove or debunk. 5 (context intransitive English) To blast, to blow up, to burst, to detonate, to go off. 6 (context figuratively intransitive English) To make a violent or emotional outburst. 7 (context computing programming PHP English) To break (a delimited string of text) into several smaller strings by removing the separators. 8 (cx transitive computing English) To decompress (data) that was previously imploded.

Related phrases:
WordNet
explode

  1. v. cause to explode; "We exploded the nuclear bomb" [syn: detonate, blow up, set off]

  2. burst outward, usually with noise; "The champagne bottle exploded" [syn: burst] [ant: implode]

  3. show a violent emotional reaction; "The boss exploded when he heard of the resignation of the secretary"

  4. be unleashed; burst forth with violence or noise; "His anger exploded" [syn: burst forth, break loose]

  5. destroy by exploding; "The enemy exploded the bridge"

  6. cause to burst as a result of air pressure; of stop consonants like /p/, /t/, and /k/

  7. drive from the stage by noisy disapproval

  8. show (a theory or claim) to be baseless, or refute and make obsolete

  9. increase rapidly and in an uncontrolled manner; "The population of India is exploding"; "The island's rodent population irrupted" [syn: irrupt]

Related phrases:
Wikipedia
Explode (album)

Explode is the fourth full-length studio album by the American streetpunk band, The Unseen, released on June 3, 2003.

Explode (Cover Drive song)

"Explode" is the fourth single to be released by Barbados-based pop group Cover Drive. The song was released on August 26, 2012 as a digital download in the United Kingdom, taken from their debut studio album, Bajan Style. The single version of the track has been remixed to feature vocals from British grime rapper Dappy. A music video to accompany the release of "Explode" was first released on YouTube on 23 July 2012 at a total length of three minutes and fifty-four seconds. The video features the band performing the track in a club, while Dappy sits in the audience watching the performance.

Explode (Nelly Furtado song)

"Explode" is a song written by Canadian singer Nelly Furtado and Gerald Eaton for Furtado's second studio album, Folklore (2003). It is produced by Eaton and was released in September 2004 as the fourth single from the album. The single was released in Canada but not the US. The song charted in the top 40 in Netherlands, Switzerland and Germany. Furtado said the song "came from a poem I wrote called Teenage Waste. When you're a teenager, you want to try everything; you're like a little firecracker. Your wiser self is there, somewhere deep down, depending on how young or old your soul is. But it doesn’t always show itself. "Explode" is visceral; it's guttural. That's why part of the song uses terms from Capoeira, the Brazilian martial arts form. It touches on teenage experimentation and bliss and fun, but also on some violence and aggression."

Related phrases:

Usage examples of "explode".

She matched the description of a bank robbery accomplice who had fled in the green van after a dye pack had exploded in it.

Every now and then a nervous artilleryman fired a shell from the Yankee lines, and the round would thump into the trampled corn and explode.

The hull was angling downward in the darkness, he could feel it, and he could almost see it in the light of a secondary explosion from aft--the diesel fuel oil tank exploding.

Wood snapped, glass exploded and Barnacle, speckled with splinters, billowed through yellow velvet and out into the late afternoon!

Walker with everything they had, the barrage of lead making a leg buckle, and then the video lens exploded into sparkling trash.

Glad of the diversion, most of the audience turned to watch and listen to Benger sapping himself, but at that moment a shell exploded close by and they threw themselves flat.

Then, just as he felt that he must either founder or struggle in to take his chances upon shore, a besom of flame struck down from the sky and swept the beach clean before him, leaving only a burst of seared, exploded bodies and clouds of greasy smoke.

P01 Sheldon Bonner sat in the head and felt his entire gut shiver, as if there were ice there instead of the fire that seemed to explode under him.

Flame explodes from the match head as Britt flicks it across the surface of the altar stone.

Then slowly my father started to bring his hand up again and the bronc exploded, its eyes flashing, its teeth bared, as it reared back and struck out with its hoofs.

Browne, whose face was once more wrinkling with mirth, poured out for himself a glass of whisky while Freddy Malins exploded, before he had well reached the climax of his story, in a kink of high-pitched bronchitic laughter and, setting down his untasted and overflowing glass, began to rub the knuckles of his left fist backwards and forwards into his left eye, repeating words of his last phrase as well as his fit of laughter would allow him.

Mr Browne, whose face was once more wrinkling with mirth, poured out for himself a glass of whisky while Freddy Malins exploded, before he had well reached the climax of his story, in a kink of high-pitched bronchitic laughter and, setting down his untasted and overflowing glass, began to run the knuckles of his left fist backwards and forwards into his left eye, repeating words of his last phrase as well as his fit of laughter would allow him.

He looked at Brount, expecting his employer to explode, and received another surprise when his boss burst into laughter.

The slab had exploded when the bulldozer had driven over it, and he had been killed instantly?

One moment the Sergeant was screaming at his men to charge hard home, and the next he and his horse were hit by the metal gale of an exploding canister.