the Third Week after Easter
free while helping to build churches and support pastors in Uganda.
Click here to learn more!
Bible Encyclopedias
Boom
1911 Encyclopedia Britannica
or a word of Teutonic origin (cf. the Ger. Baum, tree, and the Eng. beam) for a pole, bar or barrier, used especially as a nautical term, for a long spar, used to extend a sail at the foot (main-boom, jib-boom, &c.). The "boom" of a cannon (note of a bell, cry of the bittern) is distinct from this, being onomatopoeic. In the sense of a barrier, a boom is generally formed of timber lashed together, or of chains, built across the mouth of a river or harbour as a means of defence. Possibly from the metaphor of a breaking boom, and the accompanying rush and roar, or from the rush of rising waters (mingled with the onomatopoeic use), "boom" began in America to be used of a sudden "spurt" or access of industrial activity, as in the phrase "a boom in cotton." Hence the verb "to boom," meaning to advertise or push into public favour.
These files are public domain.
Chisholm, Hugh, General Editor. Entry for 'Boom'. 1911 Encyclopedia Britanica. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/bri/b/boom.html. 1910.
