bazooka
[buh-zoo-kuh]
- a tube-shaped, portable rocket launcher that fires a rocket capable of penetrating several inches of armor plate, as of a tank or other armored military vehicle.
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Origin of bazooka
An Americanism dating back to 1930–35; from its resemblance to a musical instrument so named, invented and played by comedian Bob Burns in the 1930s and 1940s
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for bazooka
Contemporary Examples
Once he hits eight, we can head on over to Bullets & Burgers, and who knows, maybe they'll let him strap on a bazooka.
With literal fidelity, the band members perform with an AK-47 and a bazooka strapped onto their shoulders.
If they were, then we could all run out and purchase a tank, a grenade launcher, a bazooka, a SCUD missile and a nuclear warhead.
If the vice presidential debate were a movie, it might be called Bazooka Joe Rides Again.
He went so far as to call Bazooka Joe his “new Mickey Mouse” in an interview with USA Today.
Historical Examples
Ned closed his hand on the tube of the bazooka and it was so much old drainpipe.
Arm of the LawHarry Harrison
It was the eighth missile from the bazooka which ended the battle.
Creatures of the AbyssMurray Leinster
"Bazooka shells ought to discourage anything," Davis said in an icy voice.
Creatures of the AbyssMurray Leinster
The cab started with a cough and a roar, and shot out of the terminal like a bazooka shell.
Charley de MiloLaurence Mark Janifer AKA Larry M. Harris
bazooka
- a portable tubular rocket-launcher that fires a projectile capable of piercing armour: used by infantrymen as a short-range antitank weapon
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Word Origin
C20: named after a pipe instrument invented by Bob Burns (1896–1956), American comedian
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for bazooka
n.
"metal tube rocket launcher," 1942, from name of a junkyard musical instrument used (c.1935) as a prop by U.S. comedian Bob Burns (1896-1956); extension of bazoo, slang for "mouth" or "boastful talk" (1877), probably from Dutch bazuin "trumpet."
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper