nuke
/njuːk
/informal
noun
A nuclear weapon.There's lots of data available online about suitcase nukes, and nuclear weapons generally....
- The United States is now considering developing a new generation of nuclear weapons, smart nukes which could be used to bust open bunkers and destroy weapons of mass destruction stockpiled by rogue states.
- It's always seemed to me that that likeliest scenario is a loose nuke or a dirty bomb in a shipping container.
verb [with object]
1Attack or destroy with nuclear weapons.We might stop an attack or two by nuking every Islamic city from Tangier to Islamabad - but, come morning, we'll have to look ourselves in the mirror....
- Consider the absurdity: We risk escalating a worldwide nuclear arms race to nuke a shadow terrorist enemy whose most effective military action to date was begun with box cutters.
- You said ‘send conventional troops that he can only repel with his nuclear weapons, which will cause us to nuke him’.
1.1chiefly North American Cook or heat up (food) in a microwave oven: I nuked a quick burger...
- Unlike normal cooking, when food is nuked numerous chemical bonds are ruptured, leaving behind a trail of free radicals, ions, and other radiolytic byproducts.
- I really need to just shut off all the machines, nuke the leftover pizza and watch ‘Blind Date’ until my brains run out my nose.
- I got home, nuked yesterday's pizza, read the paper.
Origin
1950s: abbreviation of nuclear.
Rhymes
- ethoxyethane
- ethoxyl
- ethoxylate
- ethoxylated
- ethoxylation
- ethrog
- ethyde
- ethyl
- ethyl acetate
- ethyl acetoacetate
- ethyl alcohol
- ethylamine
- ethyl-amyl-acetate
- ethylate
- ethylbenzene
- ethyl chloride
- ethylene
- ethylenediamine
- ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid
- ethylene dibromide
- ethylene dichloride
- ethylene glycol
- ethylene oxide
- ethylenic
- ethyl ether