depth charge

American  

noun

1. an explosive device that is used against submarines and other underwater targets, and is usually set to detonate at a predetermined depth.

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depth charge British  

noun

1. a bomb used to attack submarines that explodes at a pre-set depth of water

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Etymology

Origin of depth charge

First recorded in 1915–20

Example Sentences

Navy dropped a depth charge on a Soviet submarine.

From Textbooks • Dec. 14, 2022

DeBoer will stress to the candidates to concentrate on their progress and not how they stand on the thus-far hypothetical depth charge.

From Seattle Times • Mar. 29, 2022

The water explodes like a depth charge has just gone off, and he emerges covered in suds, somehow having avoided fracturing his tail bone, like a legend.

From Slate • Jun. 22, 2021

But the technique is effective only in the moment, an explosion without depth charge – no subject is likely to wonder about themselves thereafter.

From The Guardian • Nov. 4, 2016

I didn’t have time to react, so each pan torpedoed into the blue water and, like a depth charge, held on for a moment before blowing up in my face.

From "The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora" by Pablo Cartaya