Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. a shock, a surprise, usu. unpleasant.

1872		G.P. Burnham Memoirs of the US Secret Service 181: They had prepared to throw a bombshell into the enemy’s camp in New York, which would astonish him, at a very early day.
1879		G.R. Sims Dagonet Ballads 106: I could see the jade’s game in a moment, and it come like a bombshell on me.
1901		‘Rolf Boldrewood’ In Bad Company 33: This was a bombshell with a vengeance.
1916		W. Pett Ridge Madame Prince 187: If I’d been able to write one more note, I should have been able to throw a pretty bomb-shell into your household.
1922		John O’London’s Weekly 4 Feb. 570/1: President Harding has thrown a small etymological bombshell by using the word ‘normalcy’.
1935		E.F. Benson Mapp and Lucia (1984) 88: He had come to Lucia last night with the bomb-shell that he and Foljambe were thinking of getting married.
1940		V. Hodgson Diaries (1999) 8 July 15: We listened to the news and heard the bombshell about tea! Two ounces per head, per week!
1950		J. Weidman Price Is Right 360: Wallace Pohl [...] today dropped a bombshell on Capitol Hill for the second time in as many months.
1962		J. Quirk No Red Ribbons (1968) 272: When Paul got home, there was a real bombshell.
1973		P. Maas Serpico 311: Then Armstrong dropped something of a bombshell.
1989		T. Blacker Fixx 54: I had received a bombshell [...] that frankly knocked me for a loop during much of my adolescence.
1995		D. Lodge Therapy (1996) 44: It wasn’t exactly a bombshell.
2000		Observer Mag. 9 Jan. 15: When I called Pooh to tell him the news, it was like a bombshell.
2007		Islington Trib. 26 Oct. 6: The rent rise threat was a ‘bombshell’.
2015		Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) 24 Sept. 🌐 The ANC has dropped a welcome bombshell saying the law has a chilling effect on free speech.

2. (orig. US) a very sexy woman; esp. as blonde bombshell; cit. 1997 refers to a blond male boxer, so nicknamed.

1918		N.-Y. Trib. in Green & Laurie Show Biz from Vaude to Video (1951) n.p.: Miss Tanguay is billed as a ‘bombshell’.
1936		B. Stuart Adventure in Algeria 24: [A] blonde super-bombshell who had been eyeing me with neither success nor encouragement.
1943		Stars and Stripes (London) 24 Aug. 4: New G.I. Show Opens Sept. 15, ‘Colonel Eternal’ Features ‘Blond Bomb-Shell’.
1949		A. Hynd We Are the Public Enemies 47: Bonnie [...] was a rootin’, tootin’, whiskey-drinking, cigar-smoking blonde bombshell.
1957		Kerouac letter 22 Oct. in Charters II (1999) 75: Then comes the redhead bombshell.
1977		Sun. Times Rev. 21 Aug. 29: The repertoire of the blond bombshells of the burlesque runway.
1987		in Delacoste & Alexander Sex Work (1988) 27: Some women couldn’t get past seeing me as The Stripper or the blonde bombshell.
1997		D. Farson Never a Normal Man 270: I was friendly with [...] George Walker and his brother Billy, the ‘blond bombshell’.
2000		Guardian G2 25 Jan. 6: ‘Brazilian bombshell’ Gisele Bundchen is the most talked about supermodel.
2005		Gazette (Montreal) Preview/Movies 23 Dec. D6/3: In The Producers, Uma Thurman portrays Ulla, the Swedish bombshell.
2012		Sydney Morn. Herald 30 Jan. 🌐 ‘French Bombshell’ whose face and pneumatic figure won over fans.
2023		(con. 1962) J. Ellroy Enchanters 126: [Marilyn Monroe] was another ‘busty bombshell’.