bomb

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
bomb/bɒm/

▶noun

• 1 a container of explosive or incendiary material, designed to explode on impact or when detonated by a timing or remote-control device.

  ■ (the bomb) nuclear weapons collectively.

• 2 (a bomb) Brit. informal a large sum of money.

• 3 informal a thing that fails badly.

• 4 (also volcanic bomb) a lump of lava thrown out by a volcano.

• 5 a pear-shaped weight used to anchor a fishing line to the bottom.

• 6 informal a cannabis cigarette.

▶verb

• 1 attack with a bomb or bombs.

• 2 Brit. informal move very quickly.

• 3 informal fail badly.

– phrases
go down a bomb Brit. informal be very well received.
go like a bomb Brit. informal

• 1 be very successful.

• 2 move very fast.

– derivatives
bomblet noun.

– origin C17: from Fr. bombe, from Ital. bomba, prob. from L. bombus ‘booming, humming’, from Gk bombos, of imitative origin.