Also 6–7 bomb(e. [f. BOOM v.1] A loud, deep sound with much resonance or humming effect, as of a distant cannon, a large bell, etc.: also the usual word for the cry of the bittern.
a. 1500[?]. Frere & Boye, 176, in Ritson, A. P. P., 41. Tempre thy bombe, he sayd, for shame.
1626. Bacon, Sylva, § 151. A Pillar of Iron … which, if you had struck, it would make a little fat noise in the Room where it was struck; but a great bomb in the Chamber beneath.
1795. Southey, Vis. Maid Orleans, I. xv. The bittern’s boom was heard; hoarse, heavy, deep.
1816. Kirby & Sp., Entomol. (1843), II. 301. This evening boom of beetles; this nocturnal buz of gnats.
1843. Lever, J. Hinton, liv. 341. The loud boom of a gun struck upon my ear.
1846. Ruskin, Mod. Paint. (1848), I. II. II. i. § 21. 151. The dull boom of the disturbed sea.
1858. Hawthorne, Fr. & It. Jrnls., I. 232. The great bell of St. Peter’s tolled with a deep boom.
