petard

See also: pétard and Petard

English

the use of a petard

Alternative forms

• pettard

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /pɪˈtɑːd/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /pɪˈtɑɹd/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)d

Etymology 1

From Middle French petard; see Modern French pétard (“firecracker”).

Noun

petard (plural petards)

1. (historical) A small, hat-shaped explosive device, used to breach a door or wall.
   • c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Tragicall Historie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke: […] (Second Quarto), London: […] I[ames] R[oberts] for N[icholas] L[ing] […], published 1604, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iv], signature [I4], verso:

     For tis the ſport to haue the enginer / Hoiſt with his ovvne petar, an't ſhall goe hard / But I vvill delue one yard belovve their mines, / And blovve them at the Moone: […]

     For it's amusing to have the engineer / Hoisted into the sky with his own explosive, and if I'm lucky / I will dig one yard below their mines, / And blow them towards the Moon: […]

   • 1751, [Tobias] Smollett, “He is Concerned in a Dangerous Adventure with a Certain Gardener; […]”, in The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle […], volume I, London: Harrison and Co., […], →OCLC, page 134:

     […] Pipes, who acted as the enemy's forlorn hope, advanced to the gate with great intrepidity, and clapping his foot to the door, which was none of the ſtouteſt, with the execution and diſpatch of a petard, ſplit it into a thouſand pieces.

2. Anything potentially explosive, in a non-literal sense.
3. (rare) A loud firecracker.

Usage notes

• A fossil word in modern English, rare outside the set phrase hoist by one's own petard (and variants). Consequently, often given folk etymologies relating petard to words such as petticoat.

Derived terms

• hoist by one's own petard

Translations

explosive device

• Bulgarian: петарда f (petarda)
• French: pétard (fr)
• German: Petarde (de)
• Portuguese: petardo (pt) m
• Swedish: petard c, sprängmina c

firecracker

• Bulgarian: пиратка f (piratka)
• Esperanto: petardo
• Serbo-Croatian: petarda (sh) f
• Swedish: petard c, svärmare (sv) c, knallsignal c

Etymology 2

From Middle French petarder (Modern French pétarder), from petard + -er (suffix forming verbs).

Verb

petard (third-person singular simple present petards, present participle petarding, simple past and past participle petarded)

Illustration of an attacker petarding a door

1. (now rare, archaic) To attack or blow a hole in (something) with a petard.
   • 1603, Michel de Montaigne, “Of Praiers and Orisons”, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book I, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC, page 176:

     The Souldier, if he but go to beſiege a cottage, to ſcale a Caſtle, to robbe a Church, to Pettard [translating petarder] a gate, to force a religious houſe, or any villenous act, before he attempt-it, praieth to God for his aſſiſtance, though his intents and hopes be full-fraught with crueltie, murther, couetiſe, luxurie, ſacriledge and all iniquitie.

Translations

to attack

• French: pétarder (fr)
• German: petardieren
• Portuguese: petardar, petardear
• Swedish: petardera, spränga (sv)

Anagrams

• depart, detrap, drapet, parted, prated, rapted, tarped, traped

Polish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɛ.tart/
• Rhymes: -ɛtart
• Syllabification: pe‧tard

Noun

petard f

1. genitive plural of petarda

Swedish

Etymology

From French pétard, used since 1600.

Noun

petard c

1. a petard (small bomb)
2. a petard (firecracker)

Declension

Declension of petard

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	petard	petards
	definite	petarden	petardens
plural	indefinite	petarder	petarders
	definite	petarderna	petardernas

Synonyms

bomb

• sprängmina

firecracker

• knallsignal
• svärmare

Related terms

• petardera
• petardör

References

• petard in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)