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firebomb en · NOUN

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *péh₂wr̥ Proto-Germanic *fōr Proto-West Germanic *fuir Old English fȳr Middle English fyr English fire Pre-Greekbor. Ancient Greek βόμβος (bómbos)bor. Latin bombusder. Italian bombabor. French bombebor. English bomb English firebomb From fire + bomb.

Meanings

1. A weapon that causes fire; an incendiary weapon.
   • The firebombs were small, and burst into flames when they hit the ground. 2005, Jennifer Worth, Shadows of the Workhouse, Weidenfeld & Nicholson (2009), page 269:
   • A Molotov cocktail is a simple firebomb.
   • As many as 100,000 Japanese people were killed and another million injured, most of them civilians, when more than 300 American B-29 bombers dropped 1,500 tons of firebombs on the Japanese capital that night. 2020 March 7, Brad Lendon and Emiko Jozuka, “History’s deadliest air raid happened in Tokyo during World War II and you’ve probably never heard of it”, in CNN:

Forms

Spelling	Features	Labels	Source
firebombs	Number=Plur		lexicographic

Translations (6)

fi palopommi (weapon) · ru зажига́тельная бо́мба (weapon) · mn шатаах бөмбөг (weapon) · tr yangın bombası (weapon) · sv brandbomb (weapon) · de Brandbombe (weapon)

firebomb en · VERB

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *péh₂wr̥ Proto-Germanic *fōr Proto-West Germanic *fuir Old English fȳr Middle English fyr English fire Pre-Greekbor. Ancient Greek βόμβος (bómbos)bor. Latin bombusder. Italian bombabor. French bombebor. English bomb English firebomb From fire + bomb.

Meanings

1. (transitive) To attack with a firebomb.
   • The next week when they firebombed the Satin Room, one of Chink Montagueʼs after-hours joints, Carney assumed the mobsters were embroiled in another war. 2023, Colson Whitehead, Crook Manifesto, Fleet, page 100:
   • On Tuesday, a masked man used molotov cocktails to firebomb a Tesla dealership in Las Vegas before firing rounds into the burning vehicles. 2025 March 19, Tom Sanders, “Anti-Musk Hackers Share Names and Addresses of Tesla Owners”, in The Daily Beast:
   • A GOP office in Hillsborough, North Carolina, was firebombed over the weekend, with a swastika and the words “Nazi Republicans leave town or else” spray painted on an adjacent building, according to local officials. 2016 October 16, Eric Bradner and Adrienne Shih, “Local GOP office in North Carolina firebombed”, in CNN:
   • The rioters firebombed the parked car.

Forms

Spelling	Features	Labels	Source
firebombs	Number=Sing, Person=3, Tense=Pres		lexicographic
firebombed	Tense=Past, VerbForm=Part		lexicographic
firebombed	Tense=Past		lexicographic
firebombing	Tense=Pres, VerbForm=Part		lexicographic

Deriveds

firebomb a Walmart · firebomber