bubble

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English

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A soap bubble.

Etymology

Partly imitative, also influenced by burble. Compare Middle Dutch bobbe (“bubble”) > Dutch bubbel (“bubble”), Low German bubbel (“bubble”), Danish boble (“bubble”), Swedish bubbla (“bubble”).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈbʌb.əl/
  • Audio (US)(file)
  • Rhymes: -ʌbəl

Noun

bubble (plural bubbles)

  1. A spherically contained volume of air or other gas, especially one made from soapy liquid.
  2. A small spherical cavity in a solid material.
    bubbles in window glass, or in a lens
  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 (e.g. the South Sea Bubble).
  5. An officer's station in a prison dormitory, affording views on all sides.
    • 1998, District of Columbia Appropriations for 1998: Hearings
      Later that day, the unit was staffed with only one officer, who was required to stay in the bubble.
  6. (obsolete) Someone who has been ‘bubbled’ or fooled; a dupe.
    • (Can we date this quote by Prior and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
      Granny's a cheat, and I'm a bubble.
    • 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.
  7. (figurative) The emotional and/or physical atmosphere in which the subject is immersed; circumstances, ambience.
    • 2012 June 3, Nathan Rabin, “TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “Mr. Plow” (season 4, episode 9; originally aired 11/19/1992)”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name)‎[1]:
      He’s wrapped up snugly in a cozy bubble of self-regard, talking for his own sake more than anyone else’s.
    • 2011 January 23, Alistair Magowan, “Blackburn 2 - 0 West Brom”, in BBC‎[2]:
      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.
  8. (Cockney rhyming slang) a Greek (also: bubble and squeak)
  9. A small, hollow, floating bead or globe, formerly used for testing the strength of spirits.
  10. The globule of air in the spirit tube of a level.
  11. Anything lacking firmness or solidity; a cheat or fraud; an empty project.
  12. (Cockney rhyming slang) A laugh (also: bubble bath).
    Are you having a bubble?!
  13. (computing) Any of the small magnetized areas that make up bubble memory.
  14. (poker) The point in a poker tournament when the last player without a prize loses all their chips and leaves the game, leaving only players that are going to win prizes. (e.g., if the last remaining 9 players win prizes, then the point when the 10th player leaves the tournament)
    Many players tend to play timidly (not play many hands) around the bubble, to keep their chips and last longer in the game.

Synonyms

Antonyms

  • (a spherically contained volume of gas enclosed by a thin film of liquid, or within a volume of liquid): antibubble (a spherically contained volume liquid enclosed by a thin film of gas, or within a volume of gas)

Derived terms

Terms derived from bubble (noun)

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Translations

someone who has been fooled — see dupe
Greek — see Greek
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Verb

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  1. (intransitive) To produce bubbles, to rise up in bubbles (such as in foods cooking or liquids boiling).
  2. (intransitive, figurative) To churn or foment, as if wishing to rise to the surface.
    • 1853, Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell, Ruth:
      The blood bubbled up to her brain, and made such a sound there, as of boiling waters, that she did not hear the words which Mr. Bradshaw first spoke […]
    Rage bubbled inside him.
  3. (intransitive, figurative) To rise through a medium or system, similar to the way that bubbles rise in liquid.
    • 2002, David Flanagan, JavaScript: the definitive guide:
      The target of this event is the most deeply nested common ancestor of all changes that occurred in the document, and it bubbles up the document tree […]
  4. (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 […]
    • (Can we date this quote by Addison and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
      She has bubbled him out of his youth.
    • (Can we date this quote by Sterne and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
      The great Locke, who was seldom outwitted by false sounds, was nevertheless bubbled here.
  5. (intransitive, Scotland and Northern England) To cry, weep.
  6. (transitive) To pat a baby on the back so as to cause it to belch.
    • 1942, McCall’s, volume 69, page 94:
      Groggily her mind went back through the long hours to 10 P.M. She had fed Junior, bubbled him, diped him—according to plan.
    • 1957, Conrad Nicholson Hilton, Be My Guest, page 52:
      I walked him, pushed him, pulled him, and “bubbled” him, drawing the line at changing him, and found that the ability to bring actual happiness to another being’s face, even such a small red one, simply by walking into the room, made me feel ten feet tall.
    • 1958, David Mordecai Levy, Behavioral analysis: analysis of clinical observations of behavior as applied to mother-newborn relationships, page 358:
      Mother sat up, picked up baby, put him on shoulder, bubbled him.
  7. (transitive) To cause to feel as if bubbling or churning.
    • 1922, Conal O’Riordan, In London: The Story of Adam and Marriage, page 164:
      It seemed to Adam that he felt the blood in his toes creeping up his legs and body until it reached his brain where, finding it could go no farther, it bubbled him into dumbness: it added to his confusion to know that he looked as if some such accident had befallen his circulation.
    • 1973, Henry Cecil Walsh, Bonhomme: French-Canadian Stories and Sketches, page 9:
      A few minutes more would give him his first glimpse of the village wherein, many months before, he had left his wife and little ones. Anticipation bubbled him into song, and he broke forth into—A la claire fontaine M’en allant promener.
    • 2011, Tim O’Brien, Northern Lights, page 201:
      The frothing sensation bubbled him all over, a boiling without heat or any sound or light.
  8. (transitive) To express in a bubbly or lively manner.
    • 1924, Stella Benson, Pipers and a Dancer, page 14:
      Mrs. Hinds beamed at Ipsie through pince-nez and bubbled her joy through thin lips, but Ipsie made no reply.
    • 1934, Inez Haynes Gillmore, Strange Harvest, page 417:
      Delighted with this promenade, little Edith bubbled her joy without cessation.
    • 1999, Mollie Molay, Daddy by Christmas, page 106:
      “She’s a little girl like me,” Beth bubbled. “Her name is Buttons, ’cause she has a small nose. And she has a twin, too, just like me. Only my twin’s name is Carly.”
    • 2008, Douglas Allen Rhodes, Sex and Murder, page 55:
      Rachel bubbled her thanks and brushed past the Reverend, me in tow.
    • 2012, Andre Paul Goddard, The Blue Basin, page 414:
      But Ms. Loomat, far from a negative reaction, bubbled her joy at the news even congratulating Ms Lee on her acquisition.
  9. (transitive) To form into a protruding round shape.
    • 1929, The Saturday Evening Post, volume 201, page 50:
      She bubbled her lips at Junior and wrinkled her eyes.
    • 1978, Poul Anderson, The Night Face and Other Stories, page 159:
      She hasn’t bubbled her lips yet, has she?
    • 2005, Tracy Daugherty, Late in the Standoff: Stories and a Novella, page 17:
      I didn’t see much connection between the Bunnies and Michelle—something bubbled her blouses, and I’d heard her whisper with my sister about training bras, but her body was angular, skinny.
  10. (transitive) To cover with bubbles.
    • 1994, Jonathan Kellerman, Bad Love, page 57:
      Her mouth hung slightly open and water droplets bubbled her forehead, like oversized sweat.
    • 2005, Syne Mitchell, End in Fire, page 187:
      Tears of thanksgiving bubbled her eyes and blurred her vision.
    • 2007, Jason Blacker, Black Dog Bleeding, page 8:
      Oily beads of sweat bubbled his forehead.
  11. (transitive) To bubble in; to mark a response on a form by filling in a circular area (‘bubble’).
    • 2011, Allison Amend and Adam Robinson, Cracking the SAT.: Literature Subject Test, page 126:
      Cross out answers as you eliminate them, and practice bubbling your answers on the sheet provided at the very end of the book.
    • 2014, Cammie McGovern, Say What You Will:
      They bubbled her answers on Scantron tests, changed her sanitary napkins, helped her get in and out of the bathroom with a minimum of fuss.
    • 2019, Crash Course for the ACT, 6th Edition: Your Last-Minute Guide to Scoring High, page 15:
      You don’t want to go back and forth between the test booklet and your answer sheet to bubble your answers.

Quotations

Derived terms

Translations

to cheat, delude — see cheat
to cry, weep — see weep

References

  • “bubble”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
  • Newcastle 1970s, Scott Dobson and Dick Irwin, [3]
  • Frank Graham (1987) The New Geordie Dictionary, →ISBN
  • A Dictionary of North East Dialect, Bill Griffiths, 2005, Northumbria University Press, →ISBN
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