But does he know that “hoist” is the past tense and that there is not and never has been any such word as “hoisted.” Or that “petard” competed with both “petar” and “petardo” as French and Spanish and Italian words all meaning the same thing, and every blessed one of them appears in some transcription of Hamlet? Only the English seemed unable to come up with their own word for it.
Old timey (Napoleonic -> Civil War era) mortar shells looked like cartoon bombs, and were usually about the right size. Pulling them out of a pocket while lit was a bit unlikely though.
For example:
http://www.relicman.com/artball.htm#A1778
I dont’ think the fuses stuck out like cartoon bombs. The little bump part was the fuse, and burned internally.
I may be wrong, but my understanding is that that type of bomb was rather popular among Anarchists on the begining of the XXth century. So of course the archetypical evil n`er-do-good would carry one.
But why settle for that when an early grenade or mortar shell is exactly the right shape without being viewing-angle dependent. Petards are mostly useless as anti-personnel weapons. Plus petards usually have attachments and stuff for sticking them to the door - no way you’d mistake one for the other.
True: petard derives from the French word for flatulence. 
ETA: Too late the hero on this one. And I have seen the word petardo in Spanish literature to mean “firecracker.”
I guess in fitting with that particular era, I’ve seen them referred to as ‘anarchist bombs’.
The grid patterned one is often referred to as a “pineapple” for obvious reasons.
Depictions of the fuse bomb can be seen in Mad Magazines’s Spy vs. Spy series:
http://www.oldies.com/product-view/BK0988.html
http://www.oldies.com/product-view/BK0988.html
For more on French farting see or goggle, Le Petomain (the *bon homme * who talked thru his arse).
I remember reading in a G K Chesterton book (The Man who was Thursday, I think) about anarchists planning to throw greanades at the King. First published in 1908 so I would guess they had “man portable” versions of these devices before then.
Because they grow on trees? 
I may be getting whooshed here, but… pineapples don’t grow on trees.
As with all matters of burning social import, the Master has already addressed this one: Did a French vaudeville star once specialize in trained flatulence?
Thanks for the citation, NP. I was too pressed for time, er, lazy, to search for the linkie.
And for Essell, No, the oblivious reason that they are called pineapples is that both of their outer surfaces have the grid pattern. And we all know that they grow on pine trees in Eden.