Grenade
Grenade (general term) – a small bomb designed to be thrown by hand.
Grenade - small explosive, chemical, or gas bomb used at short range. The word grenade probably derived from the French word for pomegranate because the bulbous shapes of early grenades resembled that fruit. Grenades came into use around the 15th century and were found to be particularly effective when they exploded among enemy troops in the ditch of a fortress during an assault. They eventually became so crucial that specially selected soldiers in 17th-century European armies were trained as grenade throwers or grenadiers. The grenade’s effectiveness in attacking enemy positions during the trench warfare of World War I led to its becoming a standard part of the combat infantryman’s equipment, which it has continued to be. The United States manufactured more than 50,000,000 fragmentation grenades in World War II.
The grenades most commonly used in wartime are explosive, usually consisting of a core of TNT or some other high explosive encased in an iron jacket or container. Such grenades have a fuse that detonates the explosive either on impact or after a brief (usually four-second) time delay that is long enough for the grenade to be accurately thrown but is too brief for enemy soldiers to toss the grenade back once it has landed among them. A common type of explosive grenade is the fragmentation grenade, whose iron body, or case, is designed to break into tiny, lethal, fast-moving fragments once the TNT core explodes. Such grenades usually weigh no more than 2 pounds (0.9 kg). Explosive hand grenades are used for attacking personnel in foxholes, trenches, bunkers, pillboxes, or other fortified positions and street fighting
Grenade. (2023). Online Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved from: https://www.britannica.com/technology/grenade
Grenade. (2023). Collins Online Dictionary. Retrieved from: https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/grenade