Word.ws English Dictionary

petard

/pɪˈtɑːd/US/pɪˈtɑɹd/

petard noun: a small, hat-shaped explosive device, used to breach a door or wall.

petard: a small, hat-shaped explosive device, used to breach a door or wall
Image: unknown, possibly Italian, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

petard (plural petards)

  1. (historical) A small, hat-shaped explosive device, used to breach a door or wall.
    • For tis the ſport to haue the enginer / Hoiſt with his ovvne petar, an't ſhall goe hard / But I vvill delue one yard belovve their mines, / And blovve them at the Moone: […]c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Tragicall Historie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke: […] (Second Quarto), London: […] I[ames] R[oberts] for N[icholas] L[ing] […], published 1604...
    • […] Pipes, who acted as the enemy's forlorn hope, advanced to the gate with great intrepidity, and clapping his foot to the door, which was none of the ſtouteſt, with the execution and diſpatch of a petard, ſplit it into a thouſand pieces.1751, [Tobias] Smollett, “He is Concerned in a Dangerous Adventure with a Certain Gardener; […]”, in The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle […], volume I, London: Harrison and Co., […], →OCLC, page 134
  2. Anything potentially explosive, in a non-literal sense.
  3. (rare) A loud firecracker.

Verb

petard (third-person singular simple present petards, present participle petarding, simple past and past participle petarded)

  1. (archaic) To attack or blow a hole in (something) with a petard.
    • The Souldier, if he but go to beſiege a cottage, to ſcale a Caſtle, to robbe a Church, to Pettard [translating petarder] a gate, to force a religious houſe, or any villenous act, before he attempt-it, praieth to God for his aſſiſtance, though his intents and hopes be full-fraught with crueltie...1603, Michel de Montaigne, “Of Praiers and Orisons”, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book I, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC, page 176

Proper noun capitalized: Petard

Petard

  1. A surname.

petard meaning in Tamil

petard in Tamil

சிறு வெடிகுண்டு, வானவெடி

Forms of petard

Noun
pluralpetards
alternative formpettard
Verb
third-person singular presentpetards
present participlepetarding
past participlepetarded
pastpetarded

Origin of petard

From Middle French petard; see Modern French pétard (“firecracker”).

From Middle French petarder (Modern French pétarder), from petard + -er (suffix forming verbs).

Words formed from petard

Phrases with petard

Words that rhyme with petard

31 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about petard

What does petard mean?
Petard means a small, hat-shaped explosive device, used to breach a door or wall.
What is petard in Tamil?
Petard in Tamil is சிறு வெடிகுண்டு, வானவெடி. See Petard meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is petard?
Petard can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce petard?
Petard is pronounced /pɪˈtɑːd/ (UK).
What is the plural of petard?
The plural of petard is petards.

Words near petard in the dictionary

  1. petapixels
  2. petar
  3. petara
  4. petaras
  5. petarasite
  6. petard
  7. petarded
  8. petardeer
  9. petardeers
  10. petardier
  11. petardiers

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: petard (page history and authors); Petard (page history and authors); petard (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-petard.wav.

Cite this entry: “petard.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/petard. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.