different between bomb vs bore

English

Etymology

From French bombe, from Italian bomba, from Latin bombus (“a booming sound”), from Ancient Greek ?????? (bómbos, “booming, humming, buzzing”), imitative of the sound itself. Doublet of bombe. Compare boom.

Pronunciation

• (UK, General Australian) IPA^(key): /b?m/
• (US) IPA^(key): /b?m/
• Rhymes: -?m
• Homophone: balm (for speakers with the father-bother merger)

Noun

bomb (plural bombs)

1. An explosive device used or intended as a weapon.
   • 2008, Sidney Gelb, Foreign Service Agent, page 629,

     The size of the ground hole crater from the blast indicates it was a bomb.

   1. (dated) The atomic bomb.

   2. (figuratively) Events or conditions that have a speedy destructive effect.
   3. (colloquial) Any explosive charge.
2. (slang) A failure; an unpopular commercial product.
   • 1997, Eric L. Flom, Chaplin in the Sound Era: An Analysis of the Seven Talkies, page 277,

     Projection problems plagued Countess’ London premiere on January 5, 1967, Jerry Epstein recalled, and it was perhaps an omen, for reaction by critics afterward was swift and immediate: The film was a bomb.

   • 2010, Tony Curtis, Peter Golenbock, American Prince: My Autobiography, unnumbered page,

     The movie was a bomb and so was my next film, Balboa, in which I played a scheming real estate tycoon.

   • 2011, Elizabeth Barfoot Christian, Rock Brands: Selling Sound in a Media Saturated Culture, page 11,

     The movie was a bomb, but it put the band before an even larger audience.

3. (US, Australia, informal) A car in poor condition.

   Synonyms: lemon, rustbucket

   • 2005 August 6, Warm affection for a rust-bucket past, Sydney Morning Herald [1]

     Nowadays, an old bomb simply won’t pass the inspection.

   • 2010, Rebecca James, Beautiful Malice, page 19,

     We?ve got the money and it just feels ridiculous to let you drive around in that old bomb.

   • 2011, Amarinda Jones, Seducing Celestine, page 49,

     After two weeks of driving it she knew the car was a bomb and she did not need anyone saying it to her. The only one allowed to pick on her car was her. Piece of crap car […]

4. (Britain, slang) A large amount of money.

   Synonyms: fortune, packet, pretty penny

   • 2009, Matthew Vierling, The Blizzard, page 133,

     When Kiley presented Blackpool with the custom shotgun, he said, “This must?ve cost a bomb.”

   • 2010, Liz Young, Fair Game, page 136,

     ‘You?ve already spent a bomb!’

     ‘Not on it, Sal — under it. Presents!’ As we eventually staggered up to bed, Sally said to me, ‘I hope to God he?s not been spending a bomb on presents, too. […] ’

   • 2011, Michael R. Häack, Passport: A Novel of International Intrigue, page 47,

     The kids cost a bomb to feed, they eat all the time.

   • 2011, Bibe, A Victim, page 38,

     He had recently exchanged his old bike for a new, three speed racer, which cost a bomb and the weekly payment were becoming difficult, with the dangers of repossession.

5. (social) Something highly effective or attractive.
   1. (chiefly Britain, slang) A success; the bomb.

   2. (chiefly Britain, India, slang) A very attractive woman.

      Synonym: bombshell

   3. (often in combination) An action or statement that causes a strong reaction.

   4. (American football, slang) A long forward pass.
   5. (basketball, slang) A throw into the basket from a considerable distance.
      • 2013, Brett L. Abrams, Raphael Mazzone, The Bullets, the Wizards, and Washington, DC, Basketball (page 163)

        With five seconds remaining, Smith received the inbounds pass and launched a bomb that dropped through the net to give his team an 80-79 victory.

6. A cyclone whose central pressure drops at an average rate of at least one millibar per hour for at least 24 hours.
7. (chemistry) A heavy-walled container designed to permit chemical reactions under high pressure.
   • 2008, François Cardarelli, Materials Handbook: A Concise Desktop Reference, page 276,

     The process consisted in preparing the metal by metallothermic reduction of titanium tetrachloride with sodium metal in a steel bomb.

8. (obsolete) A great booming noise; a hollow sound.
9. (slang) A woman’s breast.
10. (professional wrestling) A professional wrestling throw in which an opponent is lifted and then slammed back-first down to the mat.
11. (slang) A recreational drug ground up, wrapped, and swallowed.
12. (colloquial) An act of jumping into water while keeping one's arms and legs tucked into the body, as in a squatting position, to maximize splashing.

    Synonym: cannonball

Usage notes

• The diametrical slang meanings are somewhat distinguishable by the article. For “a success”, the phrase is generally the bomb. Otherwise bomb can mean “a failure”.

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• lemon

Verb

bomb (third-person singular simple present bombs, present participle bombing, simple past and past participle bombed)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To attack using one or more bombs; to bombard.
   • 2000, Canadian Peace Research Institute, Canadian Peace Research and Education Association, Peace Research, Volumes 32-33, page 65,

     15 May: US jets bombed air-defence sites north of Mosul, as the Russian Foreign Ministry accused the US and Britain of intentionally bombing civilian targets. (AP)

   • 2005, Howard Zinn, A People's History of the United States: 1492-Present, page 421,

     Italy had bombed cities in the Ethiopian war; Italy and Germany had bombed civilians in the Spanish Civil War; at the start of World War II German planes dropped bombs on Rotterdam in Holland, Coventry in England, and elsewhere.

   • 2007, David Parker, Hertfordshire Children in War and Peace, 1914-1939, page 59,

     Essendon was bombed in the early hours of 3 September 1916; a few houses and part of the church were destroyed, and two sisters killed.

2. (transitive, intransitive, slang) To fail dismally.
   • 1992 June, Lynn Norment, Arsenio Hall: Claiming the Late-night Crown, in Ebony, page 74,

     So Hall quit the job, turned in the company car and went to Chicago, where as a stand-up comic he bombed several times before he was discovered by Nancy Wilson, who took him on the road — where he bombed again before a room of Republicans—and then to Los Angeles.

   • 2000, Carmen Infantino, Jon B. Cooke (interviewer), The Carmen Infantino Interview, in Jon B. Cooke, Neal Adams, Comic Book Artist Collection, page 12,

     Carmen: […] Then it bombed and it bombed badly. After a few more issues I asked Mike what was happening and he said, “I?m trying everything I can but it?s just not working.” So I took him off the book and he left. That was it.

   • 2008, Erik Sternberger, The Long and Winding Road, page 62,

     She was the reason why he bombed the interview. He just couldn?t seem to get her out of his mind.

3. (intransitive, slang, computing) To crash.
   • 2001, Janet Holm McHenry, Girlfriend Gatherings: Creative Ways to Stay Connected (page 28)

     When things weren't going Alison's way at work — some editor wanted something changed or her computer bombed again — she'd cuss and yell at whoever happened to be in the way.

4. (informal) To jump into water in a squatting position, with the arms wrapped around the legs.
5. (obsolete) To sound; to boom; to make a humming or buzzing sound.
   • 1625, Ben Jonson, The Fortunate Isles and Their Union

     What over-charged piece of melancholie / Is this, breakes in betweene my wishes thus, / With bombing sighs?

6. (slang) To cover an area in many graffiti tags.
7. (informal) To add an excessive amount of chlorine to a pool when it has not been maintained properly.
8. (slang, reflexive) To make oneself drunk.
   • 1995, Four Rooms (film)

     TED: The champagne you ordered, sir.
     MAN: No time for this. Leave it on ice.
     WIFE: But I want some now...
     MAN: There'll be plenty for you at the party, baby, you can bomb yourself all you want at the party.

9. (informal, especially with along, down, up etc.) To move at high speed.

Derived terms

• bomber
• bomb out

Translations

References

• bomb in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• bomb at OneLook Dictionary Search

Adjective

bomb (comparative more bomb, superlative most bomb)

1. (slang) Great, awesome.

See also

• the bomb

Further reading

• bomb on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Danish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bom?b/, [?b??m?b?]
• Homophone: bump

Verb

bomb

1. imperative of bombe

Norwegian Bokmål

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bumb/
• Rhymes: -umb

Verb

bomb

1. imperative of bombe

Swedish

Pronunciation

Noun

bomb c

1. a bomb

Declension

Related terms

• atombomb
• bomba
• bombardera
• bombastisk
• sexbomb

English

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /b??/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /b??/
• (rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger) IPA^(key): /bo(?)?/
• (non-rhotic, without the horse–hoarse merger) IPA^(key): /bo?/
• Rhymes: -??(?)
• Homophones: boar, Bohr, boor (accents with the pour–poor merger)

Etymology 1

From Middle English boren, from Old English borian (“to pierce”), from Proto-Germanic *bur?n?. Compare Danish bore, Norwegian Bokmål bore, Dutch boren, German bohren, Old Norse bora. Cognate with Latin for? (“to bore, to pierce”), Latin feri? (“strike, cut”) and Albanian birë (“hole”). Sense of wearying may come from a figurative use such as "to bore the ears"; compare German drillen.

Verb

bore (third-person singular simple present bores, present participle boring, simple past and past participle bored)

2. (transitive) To inspire boredom in somebody.
   • 1881, Thomas Carlyle, Reminiscences

     […] used to come and bore me at rare intervals.

4. (transitive) To make a hole through something.
5. (intransitive) To make a hole with, or as if with, a boring instrument; to cut a circular hole by the rotary motion of a tool.

6. (transitive) To form or enlarge (something) by means of a boring instrument or apparatus.
   • 1862, Thaddeus William Harris, A Treatise on Some of the Insects Injurious to Vegetation

     short but very powerful jaws, by means whereof the insect can bore […] a cylindrical passage through the most solid wood

7. (transitive) To make (a passage) by laborious effort, as in boring; to force a narrow and difficult passage through.
8. (intransitive) To be pierced or penetrated by an instrument that cuts as it turns.

9. (intransitive) To push forward in a certain direction with laborious effort.

   • They take their flight […] boring to the west.

10. (of a horse) To shoot out the nose or toss it in the air.

    (Can we find and add a quotation of Crabb to this entry?)

11. (obsolete) To fool; to trick.

Synonyms

• (make a hole through something): see also Thesaurus:make a hole

Antonyms

• interest

Related terms

• (to make a hole): borer
• (to inspire boredom): bored, boredom, boring

Translations

Noun

bore (plural bores)

1. A hole drilled or milled through something, or (by extension) its diameter.
2. The tunnel inside of a gun's barrel through which the bullet travels when fired, or (by extension) its diameter.
3. A tool, such as an auger, for making a hole by boring.
4. A capped well drilled to tap artesian water. The place where the well exists.
5. One who inspires boredom or lack of interest; an uninteresting person.

6. Something dull or uninteresting
   • 1871, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Passages from the French and Italian Notebooks

     It is as great a bore as to hear a poet read his own verses.

7. Calibre; importance.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:bore

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English *bore, bare, a borrowing from Old Norse bára (“billow, wave”). Cognate with Icelandic bára, Faroese bára.

Noun

bore (plural bores)

1. A sudden and rapid flow of tide occuring in certain rivers and estuaries which rolls up as a wave.

Synonyms

• eagre

Translations

Etymology 3

Verb

bore

1. simple past tense of bear
2. (now colloquial, nonstandard) past participle of bear

Anagrams

• Bero, Boer, Ebor, Ebro, robe

Cornish

Etymology

From Proto-Celtic *b?regos (“morning”). Compare Breton beure, Old Irish báireach and Old Irish bárach, whence i mbáireach and i mbárach (“tomorrow”), modern Irish amáireach (Munster, Connaught) and Irish amárach (Donegal).

Noun

bore m

1. morning

Mutation

Czech

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bor?/
• Rhymes: -or?
• Hyphenation: bo?re

Noun

bore

1. vocative singular of bor ("pine wood"):

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bo?r?/
• Rhymes: -o?r?
• Hyphenation: bo?re

Noun

bore

1. vocative singular of bor ("boron"):

Anagrams

• oreb, robe

References

Dutch

Pronunciation

Verb

bore

1. (archaic) singular present subjunctive of boren

Anagrams

• boer, Ebro, robe, ober

French

Etymology

Coined by Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac and Louis Jacques Thénard in 1808, from the same root but independently of English boron.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /b??/

Noun

bore m (uncountable)

1. boron

Further reading

• “bore” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Anagrams

• orbe, robe, robé

Middle English

Etymology 1

A back-formation from boren; reinforced by Old Norse bora.

Alternative forms

• boore

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?b??r(?)/

Noun

bore (plural bores)

1. A bore, hole, puncture or indentation.
2. A gap, cavity or piercing.
3. (rare, euphemistic) The anus; the asshole.

Descendants

• English: bore
• Scots: bore, boir

References

• “b?re, n.(1).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-07-22.

Etymology 2

Verb

bore

1. Alternative form of boryn

Etymology 3

Noun

bore

1. Alternative form of bor

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Old Norse bora

Verb

bore (imperative bor, present tense borer, simple past and past participle bora or boret, present participle borende)

1. to bore or drill (make a hole through something)

Derived terms

• borerigg

References

• “bore” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Verb

bore

1. past participle of bera

Welsh

Etymology

From Proto-Celtic *b?regos (“morning”). Compare Breton beure, Old Irish bárach (whence i mbárach (“tomorrow”), modern Irish amáireach and amárach).

Pronunciation

• (North Wales, standard, colloquial) IPA^(key): /?b?r?/
  • (North Wales, colloquial) IPA^(key): /?b?ra/
• (South Wales) IPA^(key): /?bo?r?/, /?b?r?/

Noun

bore m (plural boreau)

1. morning

Derived terms

• bore da (“good morning”)
• bore coffi (“coffee morning”)

Related terms

• yfory

Mutation