bomber
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Pronunciation
- IPA: /ˈbɒmə(ɹ)/ (UK); /ˈbɑmɚ/ (US)[1]
Etymology
It is an agent noun from the verb bomb, formed with -er.[2]
Earliest recorded meaning
In the American Civil War (1863), of mortar-carrying flat-bottomed river boats in the Vicksburg campaign, in Etymonline;[2] Merriam-Webster dates a sense to 1862.[3] A person who throws bombs, especially a soldier in a bombing party, is from 1915.[2][4]
Semantic evolution
A military aircraft that carries bombs is from 1917,[2][4] and Bomber Command and other combinations from 1935.[4] In slang a bomber was a marijuana cigarette from 1952 and a barbiturate pill from 1962.[4] The bomber jacket, modelled on American air force flight jackets, is from 1973.[4] A person who plants bombs, as a terrorist, is in modern dictionaries.[5][6]
Timeline
- 1862 – bomber (Merriam-Webster).[3]
- 1863 – mortar boats.[2]
- 1915 – a bomb thrower.[2][4]
- 1917 – a bomber aircraft.[2][4]
- 1973 – bomber jacket.[4]
Modern meaning
Noun
- A military aircraft designed to carry and drop bombs.
- A person who makes, plants or sets off bombs.
- (slang) A large marijuana cigarette, or a barbiturate pill.
Word family
- fighter-bomber
- superbomber
- ban-the-bomber
- bomber jacket
- light bomber
- heavy bomber
- medium bomber
- torpedo bomber
Related words
- bombardier
- bomb
- bombard
References
- ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
- ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
- ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
- ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins