bubble

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Contents

English[edit]

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A soap bubble.

Etymology[edit]

Partly imitative, also influenced by burble.

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

bubble (plural bubbles)

  1. A spherically contained volume of air, especially one made from soapy liquid.
  2. A small spherical cavity in a solid material.
  3. Anything resembling a hollow sphere.
  4. (economics) A period of intense speculation in a market, causing prices to rise quickly to irrational levels as the metaphorical bubble expands, and then fall even more quickly as the bubble bursts.
  5. (obsolete) Someone who has been ‘bubbled’ or fooled; a dupe.
    • 1749, Henry Fielding, Tom Jones, Folio Society 1979, p. 15:
      For no woman, sure, will plead the passion of love for an excuse. This would be to own herself the mere tool and bubble of the man.
  6. (figuratively) a feverish upwelling
    • 2011 January 23, Alistair Magowan, “Blackburn 2 - 0 West Brom”, BBC:
      Thomas, so often West Brom's most positive attacker down their left side and up against Salgado, twice almost burst the bubble of excitement around the ground but he had two efforts superbly saved by Robinson.
  7. (figuratively) a feverish surge of speculation in a financial market, usually followed by a market crash (eg the South Sea Bubble).
  8. (Cockney rhyming slang) a Greek (also: bubble and squeak)
  9. (figuratively) emotional or\and physical atmosphere in which the subject is immersed; circumstances, ambience

Translations[edit]

spherically contained volume of air
small spherical cavity in a solid
anything resembling a hollow sphere
period of intense speculation in a market
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
Translations to be checked

Related terms[edit]

terms related to "bubble"

Verb[edit]

bubble (third-person singular simple present bubbles, present participle bubbling, simple past and past participle bubbled)

  1. (intransitive) To produce bubbles, to rise up in bubbles (such in foods cooking).
  2. (transitive, archaic) To cheat, delude.
    • 1749, Henry Fielding, Tom Jones, Folio Society 1973, p. 443:
      No, no, friend, I shall never be bubbled out of my religion in hopes only of keeping my place under another government […]
    • Addison
      She has bubbled him out of his youth.
    • Sterne
      The great Locke, who was seldom outwitted by false sounds, was nevertheless bubbled here.
  3. (intransitive, Scotland and Northern England) To cry, weep.

Quotations[edit]

Derived terms[edit]

Translations[edit]

to rise up in bubbles
to cheat, delude — see cheat
to cry, weep — see weep

References[edit]

  • Newcastle 1970s, Scott Dobson and Dick Irwin, [1]
  • The New Geordie Dictionary, Frank Graham, 1987, ISBN 0946928118
  • A Dictionary of North East Dialect, Bill Griffiths, 2005, Northumbria University Press, ISBN 1904794165
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