Noun

(smashes)

The sound of a violent impact; a violent striking together.

I could hear the screech of the brakes, then the horrible smash of cars colliding.

(British, colloquial) A traffic accident.

The driver and two passengers were badly injured in the smash .

(colloquial, entertainment) Something very successful.

This new show of mine is sure to be a smash .

* 2012 , Tom Lamont, How Mumford & Sons became the biggest band in the world'' (in ''The Daily Telegraph , 15 November 2012)[http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2012/nov/15/mumford-sons-biggest-band-world]

Soundcheck for the band, today, takes place at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles. It is late afternoon and while the arena's 17,000 outdoor seats are still empty the four members of Mumford & Sons – prospering British folk band, in the middle of a long tour of Australia, the US and the UK, their newly released album Babel a smash on all fronts – wander to centre stage.

(tennis) A very hard overhead shot hit sharply downward.

A smash may not be as pretty as a good half volley, but it can still win points.

* {{quote-news

, year=2011 , date=July 3 , author=Piers Newbury , title=Wimbledon 2011: Novak Djokovic beats Rafael Nadal in final , work=BBC Sport citation , page= , passage=A Nadal forehand into the net gave Djokovic the set and the Spaniard appeared rattled, firing a smash over the baseline in a rare moment of promise at 30-30 at the start of the third.}}

(colloquial, archaic) bankruptcy

Noun

(en noun)

An insect of the order Hemiptera (the "true bugs").

(colloquial) Any insect, arachnid, or other terrestrial arthropod that is a pest.

These flies are a bother. I’ll get some bug spray and kill them.

Various species of marine or freshwater crustaceans; e.g. a Morton Bay bug, mudbug.

A problem that needs fixing, especially in computing.

The software bug led the computer to calculate 2 plus 2 as 5.

* {{quote-book, year= 1878

, year_published= 1989 , quotee= (Thomas Edison) , author= Thomas P. Hughes , quoted_in= American Genesis: A History of the American Genius for Invention , url= , title=Edison to Puskas, 13 November 1878, Edison papers , type= cited by , chapter= , section= , isbn= 0-14-009741-4 , edition= , publisher= Penguin Books , location= Edison National Laboratory, U.S. National Park Service, West Orange, N.J. , editor= , volume= , page= 75 , passage= I have the right principle and am on the right track, but time, hard work and some good luck are necessary too. It has been just so in all of my inventions. The first step is an intuition, and comes with a burst, then difficulties arise -- this thing gives out and [it is] then that "Bugs " -- as such little faults and difficulties are called -- show themselves and months of intense watching, study and labor are requisite before commercial success or failure is certainly reached. }}

A contagious illness; a bacterium or virus causing it

He’s got the flu bug .

An enthusiasm for something; an obsession

I think he’s a gold bug , he has over 10,000 ounces in storage.

to catch the skiing bug

An electronic intercept device

We installed a bug in her telephone

A small and and usually invisible file (traditionally a single-pixel image) on a World Wide Web page, primarily used to track users.

He suspected the image was a web bug used for determining who was visiting the site.

(broadcasting) A small, usually transparent or translucent image placed in a corner of a television program to indicate what network or cable channel is televising it

Channel 4's bug distracted Jim from his favorite show

(aviation) A manually positioned marker in flight instruments

A semi-automated telegraph key

* 1938 , Paul Gallico, Farewell to Sport , page 257:

At this point your telegraph operator, sitting at your right, goes "Ticky-tick-tickety-de-tick-tick," with his bug , as he calls his transmitter, and looks at you expectantly.

* 1942 , Arthur Reinhold Nilson, Radio Code Manual , page 134:

As far as the dashes are concerned, the bug is the same in operation as any regular key would be if it were turned up on edge instead of sitting flat on the desk.

* 1986 , E. L. Doctorow, World's Fair , page 282:

I was a very good radio operator. I bought my own bug . That's what the telegraph key in its modern form was called. It was semiautomatic.

(obsolete) A bugbear; anything that terrifies.

* Shakespeare

Sir, spare your threats: / The bug which you would fright me with I seek.

HIV.

(poker) A limited form of wild card in some variants of poker.