Dictionary

bombardier en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• bäm'bər-dērʹ (US)
• /ˌbɒm.bəˈdɪə/ (UK)
• /ˌbɑm.bɚˈdɪɚ/ (US)
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

Partly borrowed from Italian bombardiere, from bombarda + -iere, and partly from Middle French bombardier, from bombard + -ier. By surface analysis, bombard + -ier.

Meanings

1. (Canada, US) A bomber crew member who sights and releases bombs.
   • The bombardier then checked the gyroscopic stabilization of the bombsight and clutched in the electrical motor. 1990, Charles W McArthur, Operations Analysis in the U.S. Army Eighth Air Force in World War II, American Mathematical Society, →ISBN, page 142:
2. (Canada, UK) A non-commissioned officer rank in artillery, equivalent to corporal. Abbreviated Bdr.
   • Wikipedia: Bombardier (Bdr) and Lance Bombardier (LBdr or L/Bdr) are British Army ranks used in the Royal Artillery and Royal Horse Artillery instead of (respectively) Corporal and Lance Corporal. In the Canadian Forces, the Artillery Branch uses the ranks of Master Bombardier and Bombardier instead of Master Corporal and Corporal.
3. An artilleryman; a gunner.
   • In 1687, with notorious effects, Morosini attacked Athens: the Turks were using the Parthenon as a powder-store, and the German bombardiers blew it up. 2001, Martin Garrett, Venice, →ISBN, page 37:
   • He has known for ages why a sturdy bombardier rides alongside the officer at the head of each battery, and why he is given a special name. 1982, Anton Pavlovich Chekhov, translated by Patrick Miles and Harvey Pitcher, Early Stories, Oxford University Press, →ISBN:
   • […] the officer to whom the command was deputed, to the amusement of a German bombardier, ordered one of the largest cannons to be placed under the gate of a fortress […] 1852, R. H. Major, “Notes Upon Russia”, in Works Issued by the Hakluyt Society, translation of original by Sigismund von Herberstein, page 98:
4. A bombardier beetle.

Forms

Deriveds

bombardier beetle · lance bombardier · master bombardier

Relateds

bomber · bombard · bomb

Translations (13)

pt bombardeador (bomber crew member) · gl bombardeador (bomber crew member) · es bombardeador (bomber crew member) · pt bombardeadora (bomber crew member) · pl bombardier (artilleryman) · pl artylerzystka (artilleryman) · de Bombenschützin (bomber crew member) · pl bombardier (officer rank in artillery) · pl artylerzysta (artilleryman) · de Bombenschütze (bomber crew member) · gl bombardeadora (bomber crew member) · es bombardeadora (bomber crew member) · pl bombardier (bomber crew member)