whizz-bang

See also: whizzbang

English

Alternative forms

• whiz-bang

Etymology

From the noise made.

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU)

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Noun

whizz-bang (plural whizz-bangs)

1. (British, military slang, historical) A small calibre shell from World War I.
   • 1929 November, Robert Graves, chapter XII, in Good-bye to All That: An Autobiography, London: Jonathan Cape […], →OCLC, page 139:

     Some other new chaps started blazing away, too. Fritz retaliated with machine-guns and whizz-bangs. No casualties.