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Webster 1913 Edition

Explode

Ex-plode′

(ĕks-plōd′)
,
Verb.
I.
[
imp. & p. p.
Exploded
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Exploding
.]
[L.
explodere
,
explosum
, to drive out, drive out a player by clapping;
ex
out +
plaudere
,
plodere
, to clap, strike, applaud: cf. OF.
exploder
. See
Plausible
.]
1.
To become suddenly expanded into a great volume of gas or vapor; to burst violently into flame;
as, gunpowder
explodes
.
2.
To burst with force and a loud report; to detonate, as a shell filled with powder or the like material, or as a boiler from too great pressure of steam.
3.
To burst forth with sudden violence and noise;
as, at this, his wrath
exploded
.

Ex-plode′

,
Verb.
T.
1.
To drive from the stage by noisy expressions of disapprobation; to hoot off; to drive away or reject noisily;
as, to
explode
a play
.
[Obs.]
Him old and young
Exploded
, and seized with violent hands.
Milton.
2.
To bring into disrepute, and reject; to drive from notice and acceptance;
as, to
explode
a scheme, fashion, or doctrine
.
Old
exploded
contrivances of mercantile fraud.
Burke.
To
explode
and exterminate dark atheism.
Bently.
3.
To cause to explode or burst noisily; to detonate;
as, to
explode
powder by touching it with fire
.
4.
To drive out with violence and noise, as by powder.
But late the kindled powder did
explode

The massy ball and the brass tube unload.
Blackmore.

Webster 1828 Edition

Explode

EXPLO'DE

,
Verb.
I.
[L. explodo; ex and plaudo, to utter a burst of sound, from the root of loud.]
Properly, to burst forth, as sound; to utter a report with sudden violence. Hence, to burst and expand with force and a violent report, as an elastic fluid. We say, gun powder explodes, on the application of fire; a volcano explodes; a meteor explodes.

EXPLO'DE

,
Verb.
T.
To decry or reject with noise; to express disapprobation of, with noise or marks of contempt; as, to explode a play on the state. Hence,
1.
To reject with any marks of disapprobation or disdain; to treat with contempt, and drive from notice; to drive into disrepute; or in general, to condemn; to reject; to cry down. Astrology is now exploded.
2.
To drive out with violence and noise. [Little used.]
The kindled powder exploded the ball.

Definition 2024

explode

explode

English

Alternative forms

Verb

explode ‎(third-person singular simple present explodes, present participle exploding, simple past and past participle exploded)

  1. (transitive) To destroy with an explosion.
    The assassin exploded the car by means of a car bomb.
  2. (transitive) To destroy violently or abruptly.
    They sought to explode the myth.
  3. (transitive) To create an exploded view of.
    Explode the assembly drawing so that all the fasteners are visible.
  4. (transitive, archaic) To disprove or debunk.
    • 1621, Robert Burton, The Anatomy of Melancholy, II, 344
      Astrology is required by many famous physicians […] doubted of, and exploded by others.
    • 1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling
      [W]henever the person who is possessed of [natural goodness] doth what is right, no ravished or friendly spectator is so eager or so loud in his applause: on the contrary, when he doth wrong, no critic is so apt to hiss and explode him.
    • 1783, Richard Wooddeson, Lectures on the Law of England, 229
      Another instance of the like nature is, that the old opinion, that Turks and infidels are perpetually to be considered as alien enemies, has been long exploded.
  5. (intransitive) To blast, to blow up, to burst, to detonate, to go off.
    The bomb explodes.
  6. (figuratively, intransitive) To make a violent or emotional outburst.
    She exploded when I criticised her hat.
    • 1902, Albert R. Carman, “My Bridal Trip” (short story), in The Canadian Magazine, Volume 20, Number 1 (November 1902), page 15:
      “Nonsense!” Jack exploded at me. “Why Miss Bertram here knocked that theory into a cocked hat coming over on the train.”
  7. (computing, programming, PHP) To break (a delimited string of text) into several smaller strings by removing the separators.
    • 2004, Hugh E. Williams, David Lane, Web Database Applications with PHP and MySQL
      The third check uses the exploded data stored in the array $parts and the function checkdate() to test if the date is a valid calendar date.
  8. (transitive, computing) To decompress (data) that was previously imploded.
    • 1992, "Steve Tibbett", PKZIP Implode compression/decompression. (on newsgroup comp.compression)
      I'm looking for some code that will implode data using the PKZIP method.. and explode it. PKWare sells an object that you can link with that does the job, and we have licensed this, but we are now writing 32 bit code for MS-DOS and the PKWare stuff won't work […]

Synonyms

Translations

Latin

Verb

explode

  1. second-person singular present active imperative of explodō

Etymology

First recorded around 1538, from the Latin verb explōdere meaning to "drive out or off by clapping". The meaning was originally theatrical, "to drive an actor off the stage by making noise," hence meaning to "to drive out" or "to reject". From ex- ‎(“out”) + plaudere ‎(“to clap; to applaud”). In English it used to mean to "drive out with violence and sudden noise" (from around 1660), and later meaning to "go off with a loud noise" (from around 1790).

The sense of "bursting with destructive force" is first recorded around 1882.

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA(key): /ɪkˈspləʊd/
  • (US) IPA(key): /ɪkˈsploʊd/
  • Rhymes: -əʊd

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