Word: bubble Part of Speech: verb 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: /ˈbʌbəl/, [ˈbʌbəl] ~ [ˈbʌbl̩], /ˈbɐbəl/, [ˈbɐ̞bəl] ~ [ˈbɐ̞bl̩], /ˈbəbəl/ 1. To produce bubbles, to rise up in bubbles (such as in foods cooking or liquids boiling). Labels: intransitive Example: The laminate is bubbling. 2. To churn or foment, as if wishing to rise to the surface. Labels: figuratively, intransitive Example: Rage bubbled inside him. Example: 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 […] 3. To rise through a medium or system, similar to the way that bubbles rise in liquid. Labels: figuratively, intransitive Example: 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. To cover or spread with bubbles Labels: obsolete, rare, transitive 5. To delude, dupe, or hoodwink; to cheat. Labels: archaic, rare, transitive Example: No, no, friend, I shall never be bubbled out of my religion in hopes only of keeping my place under another government […] Example: He tells me with great passion that she has bubbled him out of his youth; that she drilled him on to five and fifty [years old], and that he verily believes she will drop him in his old age, if she can find her account in another. 6. To cry, weep. Labels: Northern-England, Scotland, intransitive 7. To pat a baby on the back so as to cause it to belch. Labels: transitive Example: Groggily her mind went back through the long hours to 10 P.M. She had fed Junior, bubbled him, diped him—according to plan. Example: 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. 8. To cause to feel as if bubbling or churning. Labels: transitive Example: 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. Example: 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. 9. To express in a bubbly or lively manner. Labels: transitive Example: Mrs. Hinds beamed at Ipsie through pince-nez and bubbled her joy through thin lips, but Ipsie made no reply. Example: Delighted with this promenade, little Edith bubbled her joy without cessation. 10. To form into a protruding round shape. Labels: transitive Example: She bubbled her lips at Junior and wrinkled her eyes. Example: She hasn’t bubbled her lips yet, has she? 11. To cover with bubbles. Labels: transitive Example: Her mouth hung slightly open and water droplets bubbled her forehead, like oversized sweat. Example: Tears of thanksgiving bubbled her eyes and blurred her vision. 12. To bubble in; to mark a response on a form by filling in a circular area (‘bubble’). Labels: transitive Example: Cross out answers as you eliminate them, and practice bubbling your answers on the sheet provided at the very end of the book. Example: 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. 13. To apply a filter bubble, as to search results. 14. To join together in a support bubble Labels: intransitive 15. To grass (report criminal activity to the authorities). Labels: UK, slang, transitive