explosive, a. and n.
(ɛkˈspləʊsɪv)
[f. L. type *explōsīv-us, f. explōdĕre to explode: see -ive. Cf. F. explosif, -ive.]
A. adj.
1. Tending to drive something forth with violence and noise.
| 1667 Phil. Trans. II. 601 Upon which Elastick, or Explosive power he establish's his whole Doctrine of Convulsions. 1695 Woodward Nat. Hist. Earth iii. i. (1723) 157 A kind of Natural Gunpowder, which taking fire..occasions..that subterranean Thunder..and by the Assistance of its Explosive Power, renders the Shock much greater. 1755 in Johnson. 1860 C. G. Williams in Ure Dict. Arts (ed. 5) s.v. Gunpowder, The explosive force will be less than it should be. 1869 Phillips Vesuv. viii. 219 The opening once made, the subsequent efforts are explosive. 1874 Carpenter Ment. Phys. i. i. §15 (1879) 17 An expulsion of the offending particle by an explosive cough. |
2. a. Driven forth or produced by explosion.
| 1735 Thomson Liberty i. 312 From the red Abyss New Hills, explosive, thrown. |
b. Of a consonant-sound: Produced by an explosion of breath; stopped.
| 1854 Bushnan in Circ. Sc. (c 1865) I. 289/1 The explosive consonants, b, d, g, p, t, and k. 1878 W. H. Stone in Grove Dict. Mus. I. 459 Alternating the linguo-dental explosive T with another explosive consonant produced differently. |
c. explosive bolt, a bolt that can be released by being blown out of position by an explosive charge;
explosive rivet, a rivet containing an explosive charge by means of which it is fixed in place.
| 1948 Aeroplane 3 Sept. 288/1 The four launching rockets..were then jettisoned, by the shearing of explosive bolts. Such components—a development of the explosive rivets of Heinkel—were frequently applied to German guided missiles. 1962 S. Carpenter in Into Orbit 54 The escape tower..is attached to the capsule by explosive bolts which blow apart and separate the two components when the tower is no longer needed. 1966 Times 4 June 1/1 The shroud [of an unmanned satellite] is in two sections..and explosive bolts and built-in springs were supposed to thrust it off. |
3. a. Tending to explode or ‘go off’ with a loud noise; tending to cause explosion.
| 1796 Burke Lett. Noble Ld. Wks. VIII. 60 Democratick, explosive, insurrectionary nitre. 1802 Med. Jrnl. VIII. 307 Towards the end it [air] approached to the explosive kind. 1850 Mrs. Stowe Uncle Tom's C. xxix. 273 Miss Ophelia sat..as if she had swallowed some explosive mixture, and was ready to burst. 1884 E. J. Reed in Contemp. Rev. Nov. 617 A limited use of explosive-shell-fire from mortars had been made. |
| fig. 1865 Merivale Rom. Emp. VIII. lxiv. 101 The nobles..might have nursed an explosive spirit of discontent. |
b. Golf. Causing a ball to jump out of a bunker as if an explosion had taken place beneath it.
| 1924 C. J. H. Tolley Mod. Golfer x. 149 If you are lying badly..the ball must be dug out, and the method employed is called an explosive shot. |
4. Of or pertaining to an explosion; of the nature of an explosion.
| 1844 Dickens Mart. Chuz. liii, He entertained them..with some comic passage or other..so that explosive laughs were constantly issuing from the side-board. 1856 Kane Arct. Expl. I. xxx. 411 Breaking it [the ice] up with an explosive puff. 1875 Ure Dict. Arts II. 761 Gun-cotton has about three times the explosive rapidity of gunpowder. 1878 Huxley Physiogr. 109 They combine with explosive violence, if exposed to sunshine. |
B. n. 1. An explosive letter or consonant (see A. 2 b);
= explodent.
| 1878 [see A. 2. b]. 1883 I. Taylor Alphabet II. viii. §2. 144 note, The law of least effort requires that the vowel should precede continuants and follow the explosives. |
2. An explosive agent or compound. (See A. 3.)
high explosive, an explosive compound, such as dynamite, guncotton, etc., which is more rapid and powerful than gunpowder. Also
attrib.| 1874 Knight Dict. Mech. I. 818/1 s.v., M. Berthelot gives..a table showing the relative force of explosives. 1877 Van Nostrand's Eclectic Engin. Mag. XVII. 300 (heading) Transportation of high explosives. Ibid. 300/2 Nitroglycerin, the basis of what are generally known as the high explosive powders, is a light colored, oily liquid. 1881 Raymond Mining Gloss. s.v., The principal explosives used in mining are gunpowder..nitroglycerin [etc.]. 1890 G. S. Clarke Fortification ix. 113 High explosives produce great local destructive effect against masonry. 1892 Hake & Macnab tr. Berthelot's Explosives 2 Generally speaking, we mean by ‘high’ explosives, those in which the chemical transformation is very rapid, and which exert a crushing or shattering effect. Ibid., The more common ‘high’ explosives are bodies containing a large amount of oxygen, and possessing a definite chemical composition. 1899 J. W. Mackail Morris II. 237 High⁓explosive bombs. 1917 Nature C. 101/2 High-explosive and armour-piercing shell. 1941 Ann. Reg. 1940 95 The bulk of the damage had been caused not by high explosive..bombs. 1941 Koestler Scum of Earth 284 A man might be happier amongst a shower of high-explosives and incendiaries than under the Pax Swasticana. |
| attrib. 1883 Pall Mall G. 7 Apr. 7/1 The Explosives Bill. |