I see words like “surface to air” and “hellfire” and “cruise missile” and “smart bombs”.
What are the different categories here, what do they do, when do you want to use them?
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I am going to focus on the changing meaning of bomb.
The word bomb originates from “bombe” which is the sound a large projectile makes when crashing into something. Roughly equivalent to the word “boom”. The word emerged around the time when most large projectiles were things like boulders launched by catapults.
The projectiles became known as “bombs” and the process of firing at something from a long distance became known as “bombardment” (and the verb “bombard”).
Over time, long range launching of projectiles switched from catapults to gunpowder based mortars. And the projectile switched from inert projectiles to fused, explosive projectiles. These were called bombardment mortars: same idea, large projectile, long distance, but also explosive. These are the “bombs bursting in air” mentioned in the U.S. National Anthem.
But before bombardment mortars, the word bomb was also starting to change to mean any explosive, with the long distance “bombardment” implication being dropped. Explosives could also create a loud boom without being tossed long range like inert boulders, so they also inherited the bombe name.
So: bomb now means any explosive device (suicide bombers, smart bombs) that generally are not self propelled. However, artillery and mortars are now generally not called bombs anymore even though they once were.
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