remote-control bomb
1
5.6
- noun
- /rɪˈmoʊt kənˈtroʊl bɑm/
- Offensive
:
bomba controlada a distancia
- Investigators found pieces of a remote-control bomb at the scene of the attack.
Examples
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Authorities were able to disable the remote-control bomb before it could be detonated.
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You go to the zoo and you get a lion, and then you put a remote control bomb up its butt...
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For example, in December 1995, a remote-control bomb was detonated outside a Communist Party office in Lhasa, thus indicating an escalation of tactics available to militant separatists.
Academic text (1997) -
A remote-control bomb exploded during the ceremony, causing widespread panic and chaos.
Surface Forms
Morphology
remote-control + bomb
The meaning 'a bomb that can be detonated from a distance using a remote-control device' is directly and compositionally derivable from the parts: 'remote-control' (operated from a distance) + 'bomb' (explosive device). This clear noun-compound logic is cross-linguistically common and would be understandable to a B1 learner who knows the constituent words.
Etymology
Remote-control bomb comes from the clear image of a bomb linked to a small device called a remote-control that lets someone 'set it off' 'from a distance'. The name joins remote-control (a device you use when you are not near something) and bomb, so it means a bomb that can be made to explode by someone far away.