petard
English edit
Alternative forms edit
Etymology edit
From Middle French petarder; see Modern French pétard (“firecracker”).
Pronunciation edit
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /pɪˈtɑːd/
- (General American) IPA(key): /pɪˈtɑɹd/
Audio (Southern England) (file) - Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)d
Noun edit
petard (plural petards)
- (historical) A small, hat-shaped explosive device, used to breach a door or wall.
- c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Tragicall Historie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke: […] (Second Quarto), London: […] I[ames] R[oberts] for N[icholas] L[ing] […], published 1604, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iv]:
- For tis the ſport to haue the enginer / Hoiſt with his ovvne petar, an't ſhall goe hard / But I vvill delue one yeard belovve their mines, / And blovve them at the Moone: […]
- For it's amusing to have the engineer / Hoisted into the sky with his own explosive, and if I'm lucky / I will dig one yard below their mines, / And blow them towards the Moon: […]
- 1751, [Tobias] Smollett, “He is Concerned in a Dangerous Adventure with a Certain Gardener; […]”, in The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle […], volumes (please specify |volume=I to IV), London: Harrison and Co., […], →OCLC, page 49, column 1:
- [...] Pipes, who acted as the enemy's forlorn hope, advanced to the gate with great intrepidity, and clapping his foot to the door, which was none of the ſtouteſt, with the execution and diſpatch of a petard, ſplit it into a thouſand pieces.
- Anything potentially explosive, in a non-literal sense.
- (rare) A loud firecracker.
Derived terms edit
Translations edit
explosive device
firecracker
Verb edit
petard (third-person singular simple present petards, present participle petarding, simple past and past participle petarded)
- (now rare, archaic) To attack or blow a hole in (something) with a petard.
- 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 56, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book I, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:
- The souldier, if he but goe to besiege a cottage, to scale a castle, to rob a church, to pettard [translating petarder] a gate, to force a religious house, or any villanous act, before he attempt it praieth to God for his assistance, though his intents and hopes be full-fraught with crueltie, murther, covetise, luxurie, sacrilege, and all iniquitie.
Translations edit
to attack
Anagrams edit
Polish edit
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
petard f
Swedish edit
Etymology edit
From French pétard, used since 1600.
Noun edit
petard c
Declension edit
Declension of petard | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Singular | Plural | |||
Indefinite | Definite | Indefinite | Definite | |
Nominative | petard | petarden | petarder | petarderna |
Genitive | petards | petardens | petarders | petardernas |
Synonyms edit
- bomb
- firecracker