- bombard
- early 15c. (n.), 1590s (v.), from Fr. bombarder, from bombarde "mortar, catapult" (14c.), from bombe (see bomb). The same word, from the same source, was used in English and O.Fr. late 14c. in reference to the bass shawm, a bassoon-like musical instrument, preserving the "buzzing" sense in the Latin.