Boom
WordNet
noun
(1) Any of various more-or-less horizontal spars or poles used to extend the foot of a sail or for handling cargo or in mooring
(2) A pole carrying an overhead microphone projected over a film or tv set
(3) A deep prolonged loud noise
(4) A sudden happening that brings good fortune (as a sudden opportunity to make money)
"The demand for testing has created a boom for those unregulated laboratories where boxes of specimen jars are processed like an assembly line"
(5) A state of economic prosperity
verb
(6) Grow stronger
"The economy was booming"
(7) Hit hard
"He smashed a 3-run homer"
(8) Make a deep hollow sound
"Her voice booms out the words of the song"
(9) Make a resonant sound, like artillery
"His deep voice boomed through the hall"
(10) Be the case that thunder is being heard
"Whenever it thunders, my dog crawls under the bed"
WiktionaryText
Etymology
Onomatopoetic, except in the "horizontal member" senses, which derive from the boom tree.
Noun
- A period of prosperity or high market activity
- A spar extending the foot of a sail; a spar rigged outboard from a ship's side to which boats are secured in harbour
- A horizontal member of a crane or derrick, used for lifting.
- An abrupt, low-pitched sound, such as of an explosion.
- The boom of the surf.
- A floating barrier used to obstruct the entry of an enemy into a harbour or other body of water.
- A floating barrier used to contain floating logs or flotsam, to forestall dispersal of a fluid surface pollutant such as spilled petroleum, to establish a no-entry zone for such as a dredging operation, to temporarily restrict passage of and/or direct small craft, etc.
- The longest element of a Yagi antenna, on which the other, smaller ones, are transversally mounted .
Verb
- To be prosperous.
- Business was booming.
- To speak or make noise with an intense, low pitch.