depth charge
noun
: an antisubmarine weapon that consists essentially of a drum filled with explosives which is dropped near a target and descends to a predetermined depth where it explodes
called also depth bomb
Example Sentences
Recent Examples on the Web It was armed with two five-inch guns, four 40-millimeter anti-aircraft guns, ten 20-millimeter anti-aircraft guns, three 21-inch torpedo tubes for surface attack, and three depth charge projectors for anti-submarine attack. 
Kyle Mizokami, Popular Mechanics, 28 June 2022 This retrospective sent a collective shivering depth charge through viewers’ psyches and showed that Neel was the painter par excellence of modern life. Jerry Saltz, Vulture, 17 Dec. 2021 Spears’ June 23 statement was the depth charge that started the irreversible sinking of the conservatorship. Nancy Dillon, Rolling Stone, 12 Nov. 2021 The stakes rise with every depth charge and meter descended. Kate Knibbs, Wired, 22 Dec. 2020 Louisville football's depth chart looked as if it had been hit by a depth charge. Tim Sullivan, The Courier-Journal, 1 Nov. 2020 Allied weapons and sensors improved steadily, and the surface ships could use depth charges, explosive mortar rounds and even surface guns against the U-boats once the vital element of surprise was lost. James G. Stavridis, New York Times, 14 Apr. 2020 Each side took turns maneuvering, escort ships dropping depth charges and U-boats dodging under the surface. Dallas News, 4 Feb. 2020 Rather than splay out from the convoy at speed, dropping depth charges at random, as was current common practice, Laidlaw and Okell lined the escort ships up around the convoy. Simon Parkin, Time, 29 Jan. 2020 See More
Kyle Mizokami, Popular Mechanics, 28 June 2022 This retrospective sent a collective shivering depth charge through viewers’ psyches and showed that Neel was the painter par excellence of modern life. Jerry Saltz, Vulture, 17 Dec. 2021 Spears’ June 23 statement was the depth charge that started the irreversible sinking of the conservatorship. Nancy Dillon, Rolling Stone, 12 Nov. 2021 The stakes rise with every depth charge and meter descended. Kate Knibbs, Wired, 22 Dec. 2020 Louisville football's depth chart looked as if it had been hit by a depth charge. Tim Sullivan, The Courier-Journal, 1 Nov. 2020 Allied weapons and sensors improved steadily, and the surface ships could use depth charges, explosive mortar rounds and even surface guns against the U-boats once the vital element of surprise was lost. James G. Stavridis, New York Times, 14 Apr. 2020 Each side took turns maneuvering, escort ships dropping depth charges and U-boats dodging under the surface. Dallas News, 4 Feb. 2020 Rather than splay out from the convoy at speed, dropping depth charges at random, as was current common practice, Laidlaw and Okell lined the escort ships up around the convoy. Simon Parkin, Time, 29 Jan. 2020 See More Word History
First Known Use
1917, in the meaning defined above