Word: bounce Part of Speech: noun Etymology: From Middle English bounsen, bunsen (“to beat, thump”), cognate with Scots bunce, bonce (“to bounce”). Of uncertain origin. Perhaps imitative, related to bump, or related to Middle English bonchen (“to pound, beat”) and Dutch bonken (“to bump”). Compare Saterland Frisian bumzje (“to pound, bang, bounce”), West Frisian bûnzje (“to throb, bounce, pulsate”), Dutch bonzen (“to thump, knock, throb, bounce”), German Low German bunsen, bumsen (“to beat, bounce”), German bumsen (“to thud, bang, pound”). Pronunciation: /baʊns/, /buːns/ 1. A change of direction of motion after hitting the ground or an obstacle. Labels: countable, uncountable Example: Krohn-Dehli took advantage of a lucky bounce of the ball after a battling run on the left flank by Simon Poulsen, dummied two defenders and shot low through goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg's legs after 24 minutes. 2. A movement up and then down (or vice versa), once or repeatedly. Labels: countable, uncountable 3. An email that returns to the sender because of a delivery failure. Labels: Internet, countable, uncountable 4. A hypothetical event where a collapsing system, such as a universe in the Big Bounce theory, reaches a point of extreme density and then rebounds back into an expanding phase, essentially reversing the contraction due to quantum mechanical effects. Labels: countable, uncountable 5. The sack, dismissal. Labels: countable, slang, uncountable Example: Someone more clever than I said, "It's not the bounce that counts, it's the bounce back. " Example: Customers said I was a hoot; management gave me the bounce. 6. A bang, boom. Labels: archaic, countable, uncountable Example: I don't value her resentment the bounce of a cracker. 7. A drink based on brandy, cherry bounce. Labels: archaic, countable, uncountable Example: A prologue of cherry bounce,—brandy,—preceded the entertainment, which was enlivened by hob-nobs and joyous toasts. Example: He had one hand on the bounce bottle—and he'd never let go of that since he got back to the table—but he had a handkerchief in the other and was swabbing his deadlights with it. 8. A heavy, sudden, and often noisy, blow or thump. Labels: archaic, countable, uncountable Example: The bounce burst ope the door. 9. Bluster; brag; untruthful boasting; audacious exaggeration; an impudent lie; a bouncer. Labels: archaic, countable, uncountable Example: And, in fact, the whole story is a bounce of his own. For, in a most abusive letter which he wrote “to a learned person,” (meaning Wallis the mathematician,) he gives quite another account of the matter 10. Scyliorhinus canicula, a European dogfish. Labels: countable, uncountable 11. A genre of hip-hop music of New Orleans, characterized by often lewd call-and-response chants. Labels: uncountable 12. Drugs. Labels: slang, uncountable 13. Swagger. Labels: slang, uncountable 14. A good beat in music. Labels: slang, uncountable 15. A talent for leaping. Labels: slang, uncountable Example: Them pro-ballers got bounce! 16. An increase in popularity. Labels: countable, informal, uncountable 17. An obstacle for a horse to jump over, consisting of two fences close together so that the horse cannot take a full stride between them, nor jump both at once. Labels: countable, uncountable 18. The situation where a horse races poorly after a successful race. Labels: countable, slang, uncountable