喜樂美語

核心畫面

You can think of a firebomb as a bomb with a different job from the usual one. An ordinary bomb is about the blast: it blows a hole and the damage is done in a second. A firebomb is about what is still there afterwards — burning material spread over a place, so the fire keeps eating the building long after the bomb itself is finished. Everything the word does grows from that: the thing you throw or drop, and the act of throwing it.

可以想成：一般的炸彈是要「炸開」，firebomb 是要「點燃」。它爆開之後留下的不是一個洞，是一片還在燒的火，而且…更多收起可以想成：一般的炸彈是要「炸開」，firebomb 是要「點燃」。它爆開之後留下的不是一個洞，是一片還在燒的火，而且火會自己繼續吃掉那棟房子。這個畫面很簡單，卻剛好解釋了這個字的兩個用法：名詞是那顆負責放火的彈，動詞是把它丟出去、讓那個地方燒起來的動作。

From the word’s history

The word is simply fire + bomb, put together with nothing hidden: a bomb whose business is fire.

這個字就是 fire（火）加 bomb（炸彈）拼起來，中間沒有藏任何東西。字面「火的炸彈」，意思也就是「負責放火的炸彈」，所以核心畫面跟拼字完全對得上。

packet Wiktionary etymology_text for firebomb (source_ref kaikki:3f6f69a190036ae4:1086596832): "From fire + bomb."

One branch

用火當武器

兩個意思是同一個畫面的兩面：一個是那樣東西，一個是使用那樣東西。

noun · C1

A bomb that is made to start a fire. When it goes off, it throws out burning material that keeps on burning, so a building, a car or a whole street catches fire. A simple home-made one, such as a bottle of fuel with a burning cloth in it, is also called a firebomb.

燃燒彈

原始詞典資料2 筆記錄

以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，原文照列，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。

firebombnoun

  • 1

    A weapon that causes fire; an incendiary weapon.

    • A Molotov cocktail is a simple firebomb.
    • The firebombs were small, and burst into flames when they hit the ground.

firebombverb

  • 1

    To attack with a firebomb.

    • The rioters firebombed the parked car.
    • A GOP office in Hillsborough, North Carolina, was firebombed over the weekend, with a swastika and the words “Nazi Republicans leave town or else” spray painted on an adjacent building, according to local officials.

資料來源：英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary（CC BY-SA 4.0）。 原文照列，未經改寫。