bubble

• POS: Noun, Verb (usu participle), Verb (intransitive)
• HYPHEN: bub=ble

CIDE DICTIONARY

bubble, n. [Cf. D. bobbel, Dan. boble, Sw. bubbla. Cf. Blob, n.].

•  A thin film of liquid inflated with air or gas; as, a soap bubble; bubbles on the surface of a river.  [1913 Webster]

  "Beads of sweat have stood upon thy brow,
  Like bubbles in a late disturbed stream."  [1913 Webster]
•  A small quantity of air or gas within a liquid body; as, bubbles rising in champagne or aërated waters.  [1913 Webster]
•  A globule of air, or globular vacuum, in a transparent solid; as, bubbles in window glass, or in a lens.  [1913 Webster]
•  A small, hollow, floating bead or globe, formerly used for testing the strength of spirits.  [1913 Webster]
•  The globule of air in the spirit tube of a level.  [1913 Webster]
•  Anything that wants firmness or solidity; that which is more specious than real; a false show; a cheat or fraud; a delusive scheme; an empty project; a dishonest speculation; as, the South Sea bubble.  [1913 Webster]

  "Then a soldier . . .
  Seeking the bubble reputation
  Even in the cannon's mouth."  [1913 Webster]
•  A person deceived by an empty project; a gull.  Prior.  [1913 Webster]

bubble, v. i. [Cf. D. bobbelen, Dan. boble. See Bubble, n.].

•  To rise in bubbles, as liquids when boiling or agitated; to contain bubbles.  [1913 Webster]

  "The milk that bubbled in the pail."  [1913 Webster]
•  To run with a gurgling noise, as if forming bubbles; as, a bubbling stream.  Pope.  [1913 Webster]
•  To sing with a gurgling or warbling sound.  [1913 Webster]

  "At mine ear
  Bubbled the nightingale and heeded not."  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

bubble, n. & v.
--n.
1 a a thin sphere of liquid enclosing air etc. b an air-filled cavity in a liquid or a solidified liquid such as glass or amber.
2 the sound or appearance of boiling.
3 a transparent domed cavity.
4 a visionary or unrealistic project or enterprise (the South Sea Bubble).
--v.intr.
1 rise in or send up bubbles.
2 make the sound of boiling.

Idiom

bubble and squeak Brit. cooked cabbage fried with cooked potatoes or meat. bubble bath
1 a preparation for adding to bath water to make it foam.
2 a bath with this added. bubble car Brit. a small motor car with a transparent dome. bubble chamber Physics an apparatus designed to make the tracks of ionizing particles visible as a row of bubbles in a liquid. bubble gum chewing-gum that can be blown into bubbles. bubble memory Computing a type of memory which stores data as a pattern of magnetized regions in a thin layer of magnetic material. bubble over (often foll. by with) be exuberant with laughter, excitement, anger, etc. bubble pack a small package enclosing goods in a transparent material on a backing.

Etymology

ME: prob. imit.

THESAURUS

bubble

air, air pocket, airy hope, airy nothing, apparition, autism, babble, ball, balloon, be enthusiastic, bilge, bladder, blain, bleb, blister, blob, blubber, boil, boil over, boll, bolus, boss, bow, brainchild, bubble over, bubble up, bubbles, bulb, bulbil, bulblet, bulge, bulla, bump, bunch, burble, burl, button, cahot, carbonation, carry on over, chaff, chimera, china, chine, chip, churn, clump, cobweb, condyle, convex, cork, daydream, deception, delirium, deluded belief, delusion, dereism, dowel, down, dream, dream vision, dreamland, dreamworld, droplet, dust, ear, effervesce, effervescence, eggshell, eidolon, ellipsoid, enthuse, ephemera, ephemeral, ephemerid, ephemerides, ephemeris, ether, fairy, false belief, fancy, fantasque, fantasy, feather, ferment, fiction, figment, fizz, fizzle, flange, flap, flue, fluff, foam, froth, fuzz, gall, geoid, glass, glass house, globe, globelet, globoid, globule, glomerulus, gnarl, go on over, gob, gobbet, golden dream, gossamer, guggle, gurgle, gush, gush over, hallucination, handle, hill, hiss, house of cards, hump, hunch, ice, idle fancy, ignis fatuus, illusion, imagery, imagination, imagining, insubstantial image, invention, jog, joggle, knob, knot, knur, knurl, lap, lather, lip, loop, lump, maggot, make much of, make-believe, matchwood, mayfly, misbelief, misconception, mist, moil, mole, mote, mountain, myth, nevus, nub, nubbin, nubble, oblate spheroid, old paper, orb, orbit, orblet, papilloma, parchment, peg, pellet, phantasm, phantom, piecrust, pipe, pipe dream, plash, plop, prolate spheroid, purl, quixotic ideal, rainbow, rave, rave about, rhapsodize, rib, ridge, ring, ripple, romance, rondure, seethe, self-deceit, self-deception, self-delusion, shadow, shoulder, sick fancy, simmer, slosh, smoke, smolder, snows of yesteryear, sparkle, sphere, spheroid, spherule, spine, spirit, splash, sponge, spume, stir, straw, stud, style, suds, swash, swish, tab, take on over, thick-coming fancies, thin air, thistledown, trick, trill, trip, tubercle, tubercule, unreal hope, utopia, vapor, verruca, vesicle, vision, wale, wart, wash, welt, whim, whimsy, wildest dreams, work, wrong impression

ROGET THESAURUS

bubble

Unsubstantiality

N unsubstantiality, insubstantiality, nothingness, nihility, no degree, no part, no quantity, no thing, nothing, naught, nil, nullity, zero, cipher, no one, nobody, never a one, ne'er a one, no such thing, none in the world, nothing whatever, nothing at all, nothing on earth, not a particle, all talk, moonshine, stuff and nonsense, matter of no importance, matter of no consequence, thing of naught, man of straw, John Doe and Richard Roe, faggot voter, nominis umbra, nonentity, flash in the pan, vox et praeterea nihil, shadow, phantom, dream, ignis fatuus, such stuff as dreams are made of, air, thin air, vapor, bubble, baseless fabric of a vision, mockery, hollowness, blank, void, inanity, fool's paradise, unsubstantial, baseless, groundless, ungrounded, without foundation, having no foundation, visionary, immaterial, spectral, dreamy, shadowy, ethereal, airy, cloud built, cloud formed, gossamery, illusory, insubstantial, unreal, vacant, vacuous, empty, eviscerated, blank, hollow, nominal, null, inane, there's nothing in it, an ocean of dreams without a sound.

Transientness

N transience, transientness, evanescence, impermanence, fugacity, caducity, mortality, span, nine days' wonder, bubble, Mayfly, spurt, flash in the pan, temporary arrangement, interregnum, velocity, suddenness, changeableness, transient, transient boarder, transient guest, transient, transitory, transitive, passing, evanescent, fleeting, cursory, short-lived, ephemeral, flying, fugacious, fugitive, shifting, slippery, spasmodic, instantaneous, momentaneous, temporal, temporary, provisional, provisory, deciduous, perishable, mortal, precarious, unstable, insecure, impermanent, brief, quick, brisk, extemporaneous, summary, pressed for time, sudden, momentary, temporarily, pro tempore, for the moment, for a time, awhile, en passant, in transitu, in a short time, soon, briefly, at short notice, on the point of, on the eve of, in articulo, between cup and lip, one's days are numbered, the time is up, here today and gone tomorrow, non semper erit aestas, eheu! fugaces labuntur anni, sic transit gloria mundi, a schoolboy's tale, the wonder of the hour!, dum loquimur fugerit invidia aetas, fugit hora, all that is transitory is but an illusion.

Littleness

N littleness, smallness, exiguity, inextension, parvitude, parvity, duodecimo, Elzevir edition, epitome, microcosm, rudiment, vanishing point, thinness, dwarf, pygmy, pigmy, Liliputian, chit, pigwidgeon, urchin, elf, atomy, dandiprat, doll, puppet, Tom Thumb, Hop-o'-my-thumb, manikin, mannikin, homunculus, dapperling, cock-sparrow, animalcule, monad, mite, insect, emmet, fly, midge, gnat, shrimp, minnow, worm, maggot, entozoon, bacteria, infusoria, microzoa, phytozoaria, microbe, grub, tit, tomtit, runt, mouse, small fry, millet seed, mustard seed, barleycorn, pebble, grain of sand, molehill, button, bubble, point, atom, fragment, powder, point of a pin, mathematical point, minutiae, micrometer, vernier, scale, microphotography, photomicrography, micrography, photomicrograph, microphotograph, microscopy, microscope (optical instruments), little, small, minute, diminutive, microscopic, microzoal, inconsiderable, exiguous, puny, tiny, wee, petty, minikin, miniature, pygmy, pigmy, elfin, undersized, dwarf, dwarfed, dwarfish, spare, stunted, limited, cramp, cramped, pollard, Liliputian, dapper, pocket, portative, portable, duodecimo, dumpy, squat, short, impalpable, intangible, evanescent, imperceptible, invisible, inappreciable, insignificant, inconsiderable, trivial, infinitesimal, homoeopathic, atomic, subatomic, corpuscular, molecular, rudimentary, rudimental, embryonic, vestigial, weazen, scant, scraggy, scrubby, thin, granular, shrunk, brevipennate, in a small compass, in a nutshell, on a small scale, minutely, microscopically.

Levity

N levity, lightness, imponderability, buoyancy, volatility, feather, dust, mote, down, thistle, down, flue, cobweb, gossamer, straw, cork, bubble, balloon, float, buoy, ether, air, leaven, ferment, barm, yeast, lighter-than-air balloon, helium balloon, hydrogen balloon, hot air balloon, convection, thermal draft, thermal, light, subtile, airy, imponderous, imponderable, astatic, weightless, ethereal, sublimated, gossamery, suberose, suberous, uncompressed, volatile, buoyant, floating, portable, light as a feather, light as a thistle, light as air, lighter than air, rise like a balloon, float like a balloon.

Vaporization

N vaporization, volatilization, gasification, evaporation, vaporation, distillation, cupellation, cohobation, sublimination, exhalation, volatility, vaporizer, still, retort, fumigation, steaming, bay salt, chloride of sodium, mister, spray, bubble, effervescence, ', volatilized, reeking, volatile, evaporable, vaporizable, bubbly, effervescent, boiling, Specific Fluids.

VB render gaseous, vaporize, volatilize, distill, sublime, evaporate, exhale, smoke, transpire, emit vapor, fume, reek, steam, fumigate, cohobate, finestill, bubble, sparge, effervesce, boil.

River

VB flow, run, meander, gush, pour, spout, roll, jet, well, issue, drop, drip, dribble, plash, spirtle, trill, trickle, distill, percolate, stream, overflow, inundate, deluge, flow over, splash, swash, guggle, murmur, babble, bubble, purl, gurgle, sputter, spurt, spray, regurgitate, ooze, flow out, rain hard, rain in torrents, rain cats and dogs, rain pitchforks, pour with rain, drizzle, spit, set in, mizzle, flow into, fall into, open into, drain into, discharge itself, disembogue, pour, pour out, shower down, irrigate, drench, spill, splash, stanch, dam, up, obstruct.

Bubble

N bubble; cloud, bubble, foam, froth, head, spume, lather, suds, spray, surf, yeast, barm, spindrift, cloud, vapor, fog, mist, haze, steam, geyser, scud, messenger, rack, nimbus, cumulus, woolpack, cirrus, stratus, cirrostratus, cumulostratus, cirrocumulus, mackerel sky, mare's tale, dirty sky, curl cloud, frost smoke, thunderhead, nephelognosy, nephograph, nephology, effervescence, fermentation, bubbling, nebula, cloudliness, nebulosity, bubbling, frothy, nappy, effervescent, sparkling, mousseux, frothy, up, cloudy, thunderheaded, vaporous, nebulous, overcast, the lowring element scowls o'er the darkened lands.

VB bubble, boil, foam, froth, mantle, sparkle, guggle, gurgle, effervesce, ferment, fizzle.

Error

N error, fallacy, misconception, misapprehension, misstanding, misunderstanding, inexactness, laxity, misconstruction, miscomputation, non sequitur, mis-statement, mis-report, mumpsimus, mistake, miss, fault, blunder, quiproquo, cross purposes, oversight, misprint, erratum, corrigendum, slip, blot, flaw, loose thread, trip, stumble, botchery, slip of the tongue, slip of the lip, Freudian slip, slip of the pen, lapsus linguae, clerical error, bull, haplography, illusion, delusion, snare, false impression, false idea, bubble, self-decit, self-deception, mists of error, heresy, hallucination, false light, dream, fable, bias, misleading, erroneous, untrue, false, devoid of truth, fallacious, apocryphal, unreal, ungrounded, groundless, unsubstantial, heretical, unsound, illogical, inexact, unexact inaccurate, incorrect, indefinite, illusive, illusory, delusive, mock, ideal, spurious, deceitful, perverted, controvertible, unsustainable, unauthenticated, untrustworthy, exploded, refuted, discarded, in error, under an error, mistaken, tripping, out, out in one's reckoning, aberrant, beside the mark, wide of the mark, wide of the truth, way off, far off, astray, on a false scent, on the wrong scent, in the wrong box, outside the ballpark, at cross purposes, all in the wrong, all out, more or less, errare est humanum, mentis gratissimus error, on the dubious waves of error tost, to err is human, to forgive divine, you lie -- under a mistake.

Deception

N deception, falseness, untruth, imposition, imposture, fraud, deceit, guile, fraudulence, fraudulency, covin, knavery, misrepresentation, bluff, straw-bail, straw bid, spoof, delusion, gullery, juggling, jugglery, slight of hand, legerdemain, prestigiation, prestidigitation, magic, conjuring, conjuration, hocus-pocus, escamoterie, jockeyship, trickery, coggery, chicanery, supercherie, cozenage, circumvention, ingannation, collusion, treachery, practical joke, trick, cheat, wile, blind, feint, plant, bubble, fetch, catch, chicane, juggle, reach, hocus, bite, card sharping, stacked deck, loaded dice, quick shuffle, double dealing, dealing seconds, dealing from the bottom of the deck, artful dodge, swindle, tricks upon travelers, stratagem, confidence trick, fake, hoax, theft, ballot-box stuffing, barney, brace game, bunko game, drop game, gum game, panel game, shell game, thimblerig, skin game, snare, trap, pitfall, decoy, gin, springe, springle, noose, hoot, bait, decoy-duck, tub to the whale, baited trap, guet-a-pens, cobweb, net, meshes, toils, mouse trap, birdlime, dionaea, Venus's flytrap, ambush, trapdoor, sliding panel, false bottom, spring-net, spring net, spring gun, mask, masked battery, mine, flytrap, green goods, panel house, Cornish hug, wolf in sheep's clothing, disguise, disguisement, false colors, masquerade, mummery, borrowed plumes, pattes de velours, mockery, copy, counterfeit, sham, make- believe, forgery, fraud, lie, a delusion a mockery and a snare, hollow mockery, whited sepulcher, painted sepulcher, tinsel, paste, junk jewelry, costume jewelry, false jewelry, synthetic jewels, scagliola, ormolu, German silver, albata, paktong, white metal, Britannia metal, paint, veneer, jerry building, man of straw, illusion, ignis fatuus, mirage, deceived, deceiving, cunning, prestigious, prestigiatory, deceptive, deceptious, deceitful, covinous, delusive, delusory, illusive, illusory, elusive, insidious, ad captandum vulgus, untrue, mock, sham, make-believe, counterfeit, snide, pseudo, spurious, supposititious, so-called, pretended, feigned, trumped up, bogus, scamped, fraudulent, tricky, factitious bastard, surreptitious, illegitimate, contraband, adulterated, sophisticated, unsound, rotten at the core, colorable, disguised, meretricious, tinsel, pinchbeck, plated, catchpenny, Brummagem, artificial, synthetic, ersatz, simulated, under false colors, under the garb of, under cover of, over the left, keep the word of promise to the ear and break it t, fronti nulla fides, ah that deceit should steal such gentle shapes, a quicksand of deceit, decipimur specie recti, falsi crimen, fraus est celare fraudem, lupus in fabula, so smooth, he daubed his vice with show of virtue.