whiz-bang

or whiz·bang, whizz-bang

[noun hwiz-bang, wiz-; adjective hwiz-bang, wiz-]

noun

Military. a small, high-speed shell whose sound as it flies through the air arrives almost at the same instant as its explosion.

a firecracker with a similar effect.

Informal. whiz¹(def 5).

adjective

Informal. first-rate; topnotch: a whiz-bang navigator.

Origin of whiz-bang

First recorded in 1910–15; orig. imitative

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for whizbang

connoisseur, guru, doctor, authority, genius, scientist, professional, artist, fly, top, fine, champion, capital, winner, ace, pro, wizard, sage, virtuoso, maven

Examples from the Web for whizbang

Historical Examples of whizbang

Then, like the whizbang of a fire cracker, a thought struck him.
Red Dynamite
Roy J. Snell

Word Origin and History for whizbang

1915, originally a soldier's name for a type of German artillery shell in World War I, so called by the Allied troops in reference to its characteristic sound.