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boom

Pronunciation: /buːm/

The English word “boom” has 20 meanings listed here.

verb

  1. To make a loud, hollow, resonant sound.
  2. To exclaim with force, to shout, to thunder.
  3. To flourish, grow, or progress.
  4. To make (something) boom.
  5. To make a deep, resonant, territorial vocalisation.
  6. To cause a sonic boom.
  7. To subject (someone or something) to a sonic boom.
  8. To publicly praise, to rally behind.
  9. To rush forwards with such violent intensity that it generates a sustained, overwhelming, roaring noise; especially from the perspective of a bystander who has been suddenly subjected to it.
  10. To rapidly adjust the evaluation of a position away from zero, indicating a likely win or loss.
  11. To cause to advance rapidly in price.

noun

  1. A low-pitched, resonant sound, such as of an explosion.
  2. A rapid expansion or increase.
  3. A period of prosperity, growth, progress, or high market activity.
  4. One of the calls of certain monkeys or birds.
  5. An instance of booming.

interjection

  1. Used to suggest the sound of an explosion.
  2. Used to suggest something happening suddenly or unexpectedly; voilà.
  3. The sound of a bass drum beating.
  4. The sound of a cannon firing.

Etymology

Onomatopoeic, perhaps borrowed; compare German bummen, Dutch bommen (“to hum, buzz”). The sense "a period of economic growth" is generally taken to derive from the sense "a rapid expansion", although other origins have also been suggested.

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.