Bombardier

bombardier

any of various small carabid beetles of the genus Brachinus, esp B. crepitans of Europe, which defend themselves by ejecting a jet of volatile fluid

---

Bombardier

™ Canadian a snow tractor, typically having caterpillar tracks at the rear and skis at the front

---

Bombardier 

a military rank introduced in the 1680’s for artillerists among Peter the Great’s “boy-soldiers” (poteshnye). Since the late eighteenth century the term “bombardier” has designated a rank-and-file artillerist operating and servicing bombardment weapons (mortars, howitzers, and edinorogs [cannons cast in a form resembling a unicorn’s horn]); later, the term denoted a soldier’s rank (also bombardiergunner, bombardier-technician, bombardier-observer) in the artillery units of the Russian Army, corresponding to the rank of private first class in the infantry.