high explosive

high explosive (plural high explosives)

1. A chemical explosive capable of detonation rather than solely of deflagration; a chemical explosive capable of reacting at a sufficiently-fast rate to produce a shock wave which propagates the reaction throughout the explosive mass; a chemical explosive capable of producing an explosion even when unconfined.
   • 1944 July and August, “Top Link Drivers: XXI—Driver H. Blunt, L.N.E.R.”, in Railway Magazine, page 226:

     Having completed their task, Fireman Page telephoned from a lineside box to the next signal cabin, briefly reported the incident and said that, as no high explosive had dropped and the track was safe, they proposed proceeding "at caution".

   • 2022 January 12, Benedict le Vay, “The heroes of Soham...”, in RAIL, number 948, page 43:

     But signalman Bridges was never to answer driver Gimbert's desperate question. A deafening, massive blast blew the wagon to shreds, the 44 high-explosive bombs exploding like simultaneous hits from the aircraft they should have been dropped from. The station was instantly reduced to bits of debris, and the line to a huge crater.

• low explosive

• TNT
• TCAP
• mercury fulminate
• ammonal
• plastic explosive

• “high explosive”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.