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bombe

bombe

1 9.7
A machine used to break codes during a war or a round frozen dessert
  • noun
  • /bɑmˈbeɪ/
: bombe
  • Historians credit the bombe with helping to shorten World War II by breaking secret codes.
  • chocolate bombe

Examples

  • The bombe played a crucial role in decoding enemy messages during the war.

  • The museum displayed a replica of the bombe used by codebreakers.

  • For dessert, the chef served a chocolate bombe filled with raspberry sorbet.

  • Did you know that the bombe was essential for Allied victory?

  • In 1939, GC&CS cryptanalyst Alan Turing and his team designed the bombe, an electromechanical device used to determine the Nazis' daily rotor settings.

  • The Double Chocolate bombe wasn't difficult to make because the steps were so easy to follow.

  • Desserts include bread puddings, warm plum tart, and Concord grape and ginger bombe.

Surface Forms

bombe singular
bombes plural

Etymology

Bombe comes from French bombé, meaning 'rounded' or 'domed', so a bombe dessert is a frozen treat shaped like a round dome. The World War II codebreaking machine was later called the bombe, a name borrowed from earlier work, and you can think of it as a machine that 'tested' many code choices quickly.