bombardier

Definition from Wiktionary, a free dictionary

Wikipedia

Contents 1 English 1.1 Etymology 1.2 Noun 1.2.1 References 1.2.2 Derived terms 1.2.3 Related terms

[edit] English

[edit] Etymology

From Old French bombarder: a stone throwing engine.

[edit] Noun

bombardier (plural bombardiers)

1. (North American) 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, American Mathematical Society, ISBN 0821801589, page 142,

     The bombardier then checked the gyroscopic stabilization of the bombsight and clutched in the electrical motor.

2. (Canadian, 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 trans., Notes Upon Russia [1], original by Sigismund von Herberstein, page 98,

     […] 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 [2], ISBN 1902669290, page 37,

     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, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0192837567,

     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.

[edit] References

• “bombardier” in the Canadian Oxford Dictionary, Second Edition, Oxford University Press, 2004.

[edit] Derived terms

• lance bombardier
• master bombardier
• bombardier beetle

[edit] Related terms

• bombard
• bomb