bombard phrase

See also: bombard-phrase

English

Alternative forms

• bombard-phrase

Noun

bombard phrase (uncountable)

1. (obsolete) bombastic language
   • 1857, Ben Jonson (author), William Gifford (editor), "Translations from the Latin Poets" in The Works of Ben Jonson, p. 853 (Google preview):

     . . . Their bombard-phrase, and foot and half-foot words . . .

   • 1881 Nov. 12, "Notes on Books: French Dramatists of the Nineteenth Century" in Notes and Queries, series 6, vol. 4, p. 400 (Google preview):

     To the inveterate Hugolater it is probable that his estimate of the author of Les Miserables as a dramatist will seem inadequate; but it is noteworthy that the poverty of Hugo's personages as actual characters, despite their "bombard phrase," receives striking confirmation from one of the greatest of modern French actors.

References

• “bombard”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.