bazooka

[buh-zoo-kuh] /bəˈzu kə/
noun, Military
1.
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.
Origin
1930-35, Americanism; from its resemblance to a musical instrument so named, invented and played by comedian Bob Burns in the 1930s and 1940s
Examples from the web for bazooka
  • People that are starving and want what you have don't care if you have a bazooka.
  • It was almost as if you'd given a prisoner in a locked cell a cupcake and then found he'd suddenly acquired a bazooka.
British Dictionary definitions for bazooka

bazooka

/bəˈzuːkə/
noun
1.
a portable tubular rocket-launcher that fires a projectile capable of piercing armour: used by infantrymen as a short-range antitank weapon
Word Origin
C20: named after a pipe instrument invented by Bob Burns (1896–1956), American comedian
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."

Slang definitions & phrases for bazooka

bazooka 2

noun

A marijuana cigarette impregnated with bazuco, a cheap cocaine paste

[1980s+ Narcotics; fr Sp bazuco, ''bazooka'']


bazooka 1

noun
  1. A small antitank rocket launcher (WWII Army)
  2. A very successful enterprise; blockbuster: its big bazooka, Home Improvement

[1990s+; first sense fr its resemblance to a tubular musical instrument played by the 1940s comedian Bob Burns, who invented and named it in 1905]