pattern-bombingn.
/ˈpatnbɒmɪŋ/, U.S. /ˈpædərnˌbɑmɪŋ/ The bombing of a target from a number of aircraft according to a predetermined pattern intended to produce the maximum effect. Also figurative.
ΘΚΠ
society > armed hostility > hostilities in the air > [noun] > air operation > bombing raid > dropping of bombs > manner of
area bombardment1918
straddling1919
pattern-bombing1933
terror-bombing1933
dive-bombing1935
firebombing1935
blind-bombing1940
blitzing1940
coventrating1940
nuisance bombing1940
scatter bombing1940
coventration1942
carpet bombing1943
obliteration bombing1943
skip-bombing1943
shuttle bombing1944
atom bombing1945
atomic bombing1945
clobbering1948
loft-bombing1956
1933 Times 16 Dec. 12/5 The boats are only 38ft. long and their speed is half as much again as the average naval target, yet results in diving bombing and pattern bombing have been extraordinarily good.
1948 E. Waugh Loved One 78 You couldn't really get away from the war even there. The ladies didn't seem to have a mind for anything higher than pattern-bombing.
1973 Times 6 June 19/5 It was subjected to air bombardment..by a process of deliberate and sustained ‘pattern bombing’ which wiped out the little town.
2002 Irish Times (Nexis) 2 Mar. 12 The office had been subjected to a ferocious barrage—pattern bombing by cluster shells of righteous indignation.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2005; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1933