the.com/boom
the sound of something arriving fast and the warning it left too late
means A deep, resonant, sudden noise — or, by extension, a sharp surge of growth or success that arrives just as suddenly.
from An imitative word, born straight from the sound itself — the kind of low, hollow blast that thunder, cannons, and explosions make. English picked it up around the late medieval period, echoing similar 'boom' and 'bommen' words in Dutch and Low German that also mimicked a humming or droning roar. The economic sense — a 'boom' in business — is a much later figurative leap, likening a sudden burst of prosperity to a loud, expansive bang.
- sonic boom
- created when an object outruns its own sound waves
- economic boom
- the giddy half before every bust arrives
- baby boom
- 76 million Americans born from one big pause
- mic boom
- the pole keeping shadows out of every shot
- onomatopoeia
- the word literally imitates the explosion it names
bikini atoll nuclear tests — us detonated 23 nuclear weapons here 1946-1958, vaporizing islands
hindenburg disaster — german zeppelin exploded in flames over new jersey, may 6 1937, killing 35
halifax explosion — two ships collided in nova scotia harbor december 6 1917, killed ~2000 people
texas city refinery explosion — chemical plant blast in texas killed 581 people on april 16 1947