letterbomb

Noun

bomb (plural bombs)

1. An explosive device used or intended as a weapon, especially, one dropped from an aircraft.
   • The size of the ground hole crater from the blast indicates it was a bomb.2008, Sidney Gelb, Foreign Service Agent, page 629
   1. (dated, often) The atomic bomb.
      • During the Cold War, everyone worried about the bomb sometimes.
   2. (figuratively) Events or conditions that have a speedy destructive effect.
      • If Alberta’s reserves are a carbon bomb, this global expansion of tar sands and oil shale exploitation amounts to an escalating emissions arms race, the unlocking of a subterranean cache of weapons of mass ecological destruction.2014 April 25, Martin Lukacs, “Canada becoming launch-pad of a global tar sands and oil shale frenzy”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 190, number 20, page 13
   3. (archaic, historical) A grenade, mortar shell, or artillery shell.
      • And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air / Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there1814, “The Star-Spangled Banner”, Francis Scott Key (lyrics), John Stafford Smith (music)
2. (colloquial) Any explosive charge.
   • The mineworkers are setting their bombs.
3. (in-compounds) A bag or balloon containing a substance such as water, flour, or paint, designed to burst and splatter.
   • The children are playing with water bombs in the garden.

See all 41 meanings of bomb