Adjacent Words

Bomb vessel definitions

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Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Bomb Bomb, n. [F. bombe bombshell, fr. L. bombus a humming or buzzing noise, Gr. ?.] 1. 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. 2. (Mil.) A shell; esp. a spherical shell, like those fired from mortars. See Shell. 3. 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.