boom
English
Pronunciation
Etymology 1
Onomatopoeic, perhaps borrowed; compare German bummen, Dutch bommen (“to hum, buzz”).
Verb
boom (third-person singular simple present booms, present participle booming, simple past and past participle boomed)
- To make a loud, resonant sound.
- Thunder boomed in the distance and lightning flashes lit up the horizon.
- The cannon boomed, recoiled, and spewed a heavy smoke cloud.
- Beneath the cliff, the sea was booming on the rocks.
- I can hear the organ slowly booming from the chapel.
- 1902, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Hound of the Baskervilles
- Did you ever hear a bittern booming?
- (transitive, figuratively, of speech) To exclaim with force, to shout, to thunder.
- 1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, “I and XVII”, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, OCLC 1227855:
- I was about to reach for the marmalade, when I heard the telephone tootling out in the hall and rose to attend to it. “Bertram Wooster's residence,” I said, having connected with the instrument. “Wooster in person at this end. Oh hullo,” I added, for the voice that boomed over the wire was that of Mrs Thomas Portarlington Travers of Brinkley Court, Market Snodsbury, near Droitwich – or, putting it another way, my good and deserving Aunt Dahlia.
[...]
“I'd give a tenner to have Aubrey Upjohn here at this moment.” “You can get him for nothing. He's in Uncle Tom's study.” Her face lit up. “He is?” [Aunt Dahlia] threw her head back and inflated the lungs. “UPJOHN!” she boomed, rather like someone calling the cattle home across the sands of Dee, and I issued a kindly word of warning. “Watch that blood pressure, old ancestor.”
- I was about to reach for the marmalade, when I heard the telephone tootling out in the hall and rose to attend to it. “Bertram Wooster's residence,” I said, having connected with the instrument. “Wooster in person at this end. Oh hullo,” I added, for the voice that boomed over the wire was that of Mrs Thomas Portarlington Travers of Brinkley Court, Market Snodsbury, near Droitwich – or, putting it another way, my good and deserving Aunt Dahlia.
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- (transitive) To make something boom.
- Men in grey robes slowly booming the drums of death.
- (slang, US, obsolete) To publicly praise.
- (Can we date this quote?), Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Problem of Thor Bridge
- If you pull this off every paper in England and America will be booming you.
- (Can we date this quote?), Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Problem of Thor Bridge
- To rush with violence and noise, as a ship under a press of sail, before a free wind.
- Totten
- She comes booming down before it.
- Totten
Derived terms
Translations
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Noun
boom (plural booms)
- A low-pitched, resonant sound, such as of an explosion.
- The boom of the surf.
- One of the calls of certain monkeys or birds.
- 1990, Mark A. Berkley, William C. Stebbins, Comparative Perception
- Interestingly, the blue monkey's boom and pyow calls are both long-distance signals (Brown, 1989), yet the two calls differ in respect to their susceptibility to habitat-induced degradation.
- 1990, Mark A. Berkley, William C. Stebbins, Comparative Perception
Translations
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Interjection
boom
- used to suggest the sound of an explosion.
- used to suggest something happening suddenly and unexpectedly.
- 1993, Vibe (volume 1, number 2)
- So we went around the corner, looked in the garbage, and, boom, there's about 16 of the tapes he didn't like!
- 2013, Peter Westoby, Gerard Dowling, Theory and Practice of Dialogical Community Development
- Hostile race relations and chronic unemployment are ignored in the suburbs of Paris, London and Sydney, and boom! there are riots.
- 1993, Vibe (volume 1, number 2)
Translations
Etymology 2
Borrowed from Dutch boom (“tree; pole”). Cognate with English beam.
Noun
boom (plural booms)
- (nautical) A spar extending the foot of a sail; a spar rigged outboard from a ship's side to which boats are secured in harbour.
- A movable pole used to support a microphone or camera.
- A horizontal member of a crane or derrick, used for lifting.
- (electronics) The longest element of a Yagi antenna, on which the other, smaller ones are transversally mounted.
- A floating barrier used to obstruct navigation, for military or other purposes; or used for the containment of an oil spill.
- A wishbone-shaped piece of windsurfing equipment.
- The section of the arm on a backhoe closest to the tractor.
Related terms
Translations
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.
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Verb
boom (third-person singular simple present booms, present participle booming, simple past and past participle boomed)
- To extend, or push, with a boom or pole.
- to boom out a sail; to boom off a boat
Etymology 3
Perhaps a figurative development of Etymology 1, above.
Noun
boom (plural booms)
- (economics, business) A period of prosperity, growth, progress, or high market activity.
Antonyms
- (period of prosperity): recession
Translations
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Verb
boom (third-person singular simple present booms, present participle booming, simple past and past participle boomed)
- (intransitive) To flourish, grow, or progress.
- The population boomed in recent years.
- Business was booming.
- (transitive, dated) To cause to advance rapidly in price.
- to boom railroad or mining shares
Synonyms
Derived terms
Translations
Anagrams
Afrikaans
Etymology
From Dutch boom, from Old Dutch bōm, boum, from Proto-Germanic *baumaz.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /bʊəm/
Noun
boom (plural bome, diminutive boompie)
Dutch
Etymology 1
From Middle Dutch bôom, from Old Dutch bōm, from Proto-Germanic *baumaz.
Pronunciation
- Rhymes: -oːm
- IPA(key): /boːm/
audio (file)
Noun
boom m (plural bomen, diminutive boompje n)
Derived terms
Trees:
- boombast, boomgaard, boomgrens, boomkweker, boomschors, boomstam, boomstronk
- (by type) loofboom, naaldboom
- (by fruit) appelboom, noteboom
- (by use) meiboom, kerstboom
- (other plant species) apenboom, boomvaren
- (animal species) boomkikker, boomkikvors, boomvors, boomklever, boomkruiper, boomleeuwerik
Solid pole-shaped object:
Descendants
Etymology 2
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /buːm/
Noun
boom m (plural booms, diminutive boompje n)
- boom, as in a market explosion
References
- M. J. Koenen & J. Endepols, Verklarend Handwoordenboek der Nederlandse Taal (tevens Vreemde-woordentolk), Groningen, Wolters-Noordhoff, 1969 (26th edition) [Dutch dictionary in Dutch]
See also
boom on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
Boom in the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica.
French
Alternative forms
Etymology
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /bum/
Noun
boom m (plural booms)
- boom (dramatically fast increase)
Italian
Etymology
Noun
boom m (invariable)
Middle Dutch
Etymology
From Old Dutch bōm, from Proto-Germanic *baumaz.
Noun
bôom m
Inflection
This noun needs an inflection-table template.
Descendants
Further reading
- “boom”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
- “boom (I)”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, 1929
Portuguese
Etymology
Noun
boom m (plural booms)
Spanish
Etymology
Noun
boom m (plural booms)
- boom (period of prosperity or high market activity)