grenade

Etymology

Borrowed from French grenade, from Old French grenate in the phrase pomme grenate (“pomegranate”), ultimately from Medieval Latin pomum (“apple”) + granatum (“having grains”). The -d developed in French under influence of Spanish granada.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡɹəˈneɪd/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪd

Noun

grenade (plural grenades)

1. A small explosive device, designed to be thrown by hand or launched from a grenade launcher.
2. (obsolete) A pomegranate.
3. (heraldry) A charge similar to a fireball, and made of a disc-shaped bomb shell, but with only one set of flames at the top.
4. (slang) An unattractive girl.

Verb

grenade (third-person singular simple present grenades, present participle grenading, simple past and past participle grenaded)

1. To use grenade(s) upon.
   • 2001, Samuel Lyman Atwood Marshall, Island Victory: The Battle of Kwajalein Atoll, page 43:

     Some of the infantry got pinned down by it, and from cover kept up the battle by grenading rubble piles or any other likely spots ahead of them.

   • 2015, Gordon L. Rottman, The Hand Grenade, page 46:

     They advanced after grenading the next traverse, much like the British did.

Anagrams

• Redange, agender, angered, derange, en garde, enraged, grandee

Etymology

Substantive use of Old French grenate in pomme grenate (“pomegranate”), from dialectal Italian pom granat, from Latin pomum granatum (“seeded fruit”), from grānātum. The -d- developed under influence from Spanish granada.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡʁə.nad/

Noun

grenade f (plural grenades)

1. pomegranate
2. grenade
3. insignia, badge
4. (heraldry) pomegranate (Grenade de guerre is used in French to describe a grenade in English heraldry).

Further reading

• “grenade” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Anagrams

• dérange, dérangé