Molotov cocktail
See also: molotov cocktail
English edit
Alternative forms edit
Etymology edit
Calque of Finnish Molotovin koktaili. Coined in Finland during the Winter War of 1939–40 between Finland and the Soviet Union, and named after then-Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov (1890–1986), who claimed the bombs the Soviet Union dropped on Finland were "airborne humanitarian food deliveries", prompting Finns to say their firebombs were "Molotov cocktails" (a drink to go with his food deliveries).
Pronunciation edit
- (UK) IPA(key): /ˈmɒ.ləˌtɒf ˈkɒk.teɪl/
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈmɔ.ləˌtɔv ˈkɔk.teɪl/
Audio (US) (file)
Noun edit
Molotov cocktail (plural Molotov cocktails)
- A crude incendiary bomb made from a glass bottle, either filled with a flammable liquid such as petroleum and supplied with a rag for a fuse that is lit just before being hurled, or filled with such a mix of flammable liquids that it ignites itself when it is smashed and its contents are exposed to air.
Quotations edit
- For quotations using this term, see Citations:Molotov cocktail.
Synonyms edit
- (bomb): mollie (informal), petrol bomb, Bandera smoothie
- Molotov, molotov
Related terms edit
Translations edit
simple incendiary bomb
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References edit
D. L. Gold (1996), “Etymology and Etiology in the Study of Proper Nouns, Eponymous Lexemes, and Possibly Eponymous Lexemes”, in Onomastica: pismo poświęcone nazewnictwu geograficznemu i osobowemu oraz innym nazwom własnym, v 41, pp 109–38.