booms

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of boom.

   Distant booms echoed across the valley during the storm.

   Economic booms are often followed by sharp downturns.

   Note

   A regular plural that serves every countable sense of the noun. It covers the low thunder of explosions and the bangs of aircraft (short for sonic booms). It also covers the deep calls of certain birds and monkeys, and the stretches of prosperity that markets go through. The same spelling is also the present-tense verb, so read the frame: after an article, adjective or number (distant booms, two booms) it is the noun.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of boom.

   Thunder booms over the hills whenever a storm rolls in.

   The local economy booms each summer when tourists arrive.

   Note

   Usually intransitive, it follows a subject that makes the noise or does the growing: thunder booms, a town booms. It can also take an object. That object may be a forceful utterance, as when a host booms a welcome, or the thing made to resound. Birds calling to mark territory are said to boom too, and so is a jet that causes a sonic boom overhead.

   The coach booms instructions from the sideline.

   Her father booms a greeting at every guest who walks in.

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