[f. prec. vb. + -ER1, or ad. F. bombardier (16th c. in Littré).] He who or that which bombards; a bombarding vessel. In early use = BOMBARDIER.
1583. Exec. Treason (1675), 29. The Popes Canonists being as his Bombarders, do make his Excommunications … appear fearful.
1808. Whitbread, in Cobbett’s Parl. Deb. (1808), X. 729. The bombarders of Copenhagen.
1866. Standard, 23 May, 4/5. Those ‘well-directed efforts to keep the peace’ which would have stopped the bombardment by sinking the bombarder.
