bub·ble
(bŭb́əl)
[From Middle English bubelen, to bubble.]
noun
- A thin, usually spherical or hemispherical film of liquid filled with air or gas: a soap bubble.
- A globular body of air or gas formed within a liquid: air bubbles rising to the surface.
- A pocket formed in a solid by air or gas that is trapped, as during cooling or hardening.
- The act or process of forming bubbles.
- A sound made by or as if by the forming and bursting of bubbles.
- Something insubstantial, groundless, or ephemeral, especially:
- A fantastic or impracticable idea or belief; an illusion: didn't want to burst the new volunteers' bubble.
- A speculative scheme that comes to nothing: lost money in the real estate bubble.
- Something light or effervescent: “Macon—though terribly distressed—had to fight down a bubble of laughter” (Anne Tyler)
- A usually transparent glass or plastic dome.
- A protective, often isolating envelope or cover: “The Secret Service will talk of tightening protection, but no President wants to live in a bubble” (Anthony Lewis)
verb: -bled, -bling, -bles.
intransitive verb
- To form or give off bubbles.
- To move or flow with a gurgling sound: a brook bubbling along its course.
- To rise to or as if to the surface; emerge: “Since then, the revolution has bubbled up again in many forms” (Jonathan Schell)
- To display irrepressible activity or emotion: bubbling over with excitement.
transitive verb
- To cause to form bubbles.
