Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Detonate

Detonate , intransitive verb

[Latin detonare, v. i., to thunder down; de + tonare to thunder; akin to English thunder. See Thunder, and compare Detonize.]

To explode with a sudden report; as, niter detonates with sulphur.

Detonate , transitive verb

To cause to explode; to cause to burn or inflame with a sudden report.