Dictionary

the bomb en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (Australia) audio

Etymology

Attested in reference to nuclear weapons or the capacity to use them since 1932; see quotations, below. As slang for something excellent, the phrase is attested since the 1960s; compare go down a bomb, UK theatre slang during the 1950s meaning “be a major success”. For further etymology see bomb.

Meanings

1. (capitalized, informal, often, uncountable, usually) The atomic bomb; the capability to launch a nuclear attack.
   • Pakistan and India both have the Bomb now.
   • In my view, the tensions which have produced the “World with the Bomb” can be divided into roughly four classes. 1962, Kwame Nkruma, The World Without the Bomb: Selections from the Papers of “the Accra Assembly”, page 3:
   • First we got the bomb and that was good, 'Cause we love peace and motherhood. Then Russia got the bomb, but that's O.K., 'Cause the balance of power's maintained that way! 1965, Tom Lehrer, “Who's Next” (track 5, side 2), in That Was The Year That Was:
   • The Cabinet, when faced with this proffered omnipotence, had recoiled in fear. True it was that their acute distaste for the bomb[…] did credit to their humanity, to their state of civilization. 1932, Harold Nicolson, “Public Faces”, in The Spectator, volume 149, page 558:
2. (figuratively, slang, uncountable, usually) A success; something excellent.
   • She’s happy, she’s found a little big-head boy who thinks she’s the bomb. 1997, Sheneska Jackson, Li'l Mama's Rules, page 152:
   • Their new record is the bomb.
   • That party was the bomb!

Forms

Deriveds

the bomb diggity · the bomb diggy · bomb-ass

Synonyms

the shit