bubble

== English == === 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”). The word was first used in its economic sense in association with the collapse of the South Sea Company in 1720, based on the metaphor of an inflated soap bubble bursting. === Pronunciation === IPA(key): /ˈbʌb.l̩/, [ˈbʌ.bl̩] (General Australian) IPA(key): /ˈbʌbl̩/ (Northern England, Ireland) IPA(key): /ˈbʊb.əl/ Rhymes: -ʌbəl === Noun === bubble (plural bubbles) A spherically contained volume of air or other gas, especially one made from soapy liquid. Synonym: (obsolete) bull Antonym: antibubble A small spherical cavity in a solid material. (by extension) Anything resembling a hollow sphere. (figurative) Anything lacking firmness or solidity; a cheat or fraud; an empty project. (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. (figurative) The emotional or physical atmosphere in which a subject is immersed. Synonyms: circumstances, ambience Hyponym: filter bubble An officer's station in a prison dormitory, affording views on all sides. (obsolete) Someone who has been ‘bubbled’ or fooled; a dupe. A small, hollow, floating bead or globe, formerly used for testing the strength of spirits. The globule of air in the chamber of a spirit level. (Cockney rhyming slang) A laugh. Synonyms: giraffe, bubble bath (Cockney rhyming slang) A Greek. Synonym: bubble and squeak (computing, historical) Any of the small magnetized areas that make up bubble memory. (poker) In a poker tournament, the point before which eliminated players receive no prize money and after which they do; the situation where all remaining players are guaranteed prize money (in this case, the players are said to have made the bubble); the situation where all remaining players will be guaranteed prize money after some small number of players are eliminated (in this case, the players are said to be on the bubble). (sports) The cutoff point between qualifying, advancing or being invited to a tournament, or having one's competition end. (chiefly COVID-19 pandemic) A quarantine environment containing multiple people or facilities isolated from the rest of society. The people who are in this quarantine. Ellipsis of travel bubble. (television, slang) A bulb or lamp; the part of a lighting assembly that actually produces the light. (drug paraphernalia) A specialized glass pipe having a sphere-shaped apparatus at one end. ==== Derived terms ==== ==== Translations ==== === Verb === bubble (third-person singular simple present bubbles, present participle bubbling, simple past and past participle bubbled) (intransitive) To produce bubbles, to rise up in bubbles (such as in foods cooking or liquids boiling). (intransitive, figurative) To churn or foment, as if wishing to rise to the surface. (intransitive, figurative) To rise through a medium or system, similar to the way that bubbles rise in liquid. (transitive, obsolete, rare) To cover or spread with bubbles (transitive, archaic, rare) To delude, dupe, or hoodwink; to cheat. (intransitive, Scotland and Northern England) To cry, weep. (transitive) To pat a baby on the back so as to cause it to belch. (transitive) To cause to feel as if bubbling or churning. (transitive) To express in a bubbly or lively manner. (transitive) To form into a protruding round shape. (transitive) To cover with bubbles. (transitive) To bubble in; to mark a response on a form by filling in a circular area (‘bubble’). (computing) To apply a filter bubble, as to search results. (intransitive) To join together in a support bubble (transitive, UK, slang) To grass (report criminal activity to the authorities). ==== Quotations ==== For quotations using this term, see Citations:bubble. ==== Derived terms ==== ==== Translations ==== === References === “bubble”, in OneLook Dictionary Search. Scott Dobson, Dick Irwin, “bubble”, in Newcastle 1970s: Durham & Tyneside Dialect Group‎[8], archived from the original on 5 September 2024. Frank Graham, editor (1987), “BUBBLE”, in The New Geordie Dictionary, Rothbury, Northumberland: Butler Publishing, →ISBN. Bill Griffiths, editor (2004), “bubble”, in A Dictionary of North East Dialect, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear: Northumbria University Press, →ISBN. “bubble (and squeak) v.”, in Green’s Dictionary of Slang, Jonathon Green, 2016–present “bubble”, in OED Online ⁠‎[9], Oxford: Oxford University Press, March 2018, archived from the original on 23 April 2018.