• Bombardier

    Pronunciation

    • Rhymes: -ɪə(ɹ)

    Origin

    Borrowing from fro bombarder.

    Full definition of bombardier

    Noun

    bombardier

    (plural bombardiers)
    1. (North America) A bomber crew member who sights and releases bombs.
      • 1990, Charles W McArthur, Operations Analysis in the U.S. Army Eighth Air Force in World War II, The bombardier then checked the gyroscopic stabilization of the bombsight and clutched in the electrical motor.
    2. (Canada, Britain) A non-commissioned officer rank in artillery, equivalent to corporal. Abbreviated Bdr.
      • Wikipedia: Bombardier (Bdr) and Lance Bombardier (LBdr or L/Bdr) are British Army ranks used in the Royal Artillery and Royal Horse Artillery instead of (respectively) Corporal and Lance Corporal. In the Canadian Forces, the Artillery Branch uses the ranks of Master Bombardier and Bombardier instead of Master Corporal and Corporal.
    3. An artilleryman; a gunner.
      • 1852, R. H. Major, Works Issued by the Hakluyt Society, ... the officer to whom the command was deputed, to the amusement of a German bombardier, ordered one of the largest cannons to be placed under the gate of a fortress ...
      • 2001, Martin Garrett, Venice, In 1687, with notorious effects, Morosini attacked Athens: the Turks were using the Parthenon as a powder-store, and the German bombardiers blew it up.
      • Anton Pavlovich Chekhov, Early Stories, He has known for ages why a sturdy bombardier rides alongside the officer at the head of each battery, and why he is given a special name.
    4. (entomology) A bombardier beetle.

    Related terms

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