Definition 1: A military incendiary device for blowing up gates and city walls.
Definition 2: A firecracker that explodes with a loud report.
[@more@]Usage 2: It is common to repeat Shakespeare's famous metaphor from Hamlet, "hoist with one's own petar(d)" (to be hurt by one's own schemes) without knowing exactly what a "petard" is. We bet the image is funnier than most English-speakers think.
Suggested usage: Remember that a petard is an explosive device and you will be able to create innovative and creative metaphors with it: "Abner's comment was the petard that broke down the negotiations and soured the two sides permanently." "Rosa Parks' 1955 bus ride in Montgomery, Alabama was the petard that breached the wall of segregation in the South and rallied the nation to the cause of racial equality."
Etymology: French pétard "firecracker" from Old French from peter "to break wind" plus the usually pejorative suffix -ard: "coward," "wizard," "buzzard," "drunkard," "laggard". (Thanks to Dr. Audra Himes of yourDictionary for today's word.)
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