bubble

plural bubbles

1. A spherically contained volume of air or other gas in a liquid, commonly a soapy liquid.

   Synonyms: bull · Antonyms: antibubble

2. A small spherical cavity in a solid material.

   bubbles in window glass, or in a lens

3. broadlyAnything resembling a hollow sphere.
4. figurativelyAnything lacking firmness or solidity; a cheat or fraud; an empty project.

   Then a soldier […] / Seeking the bubble reputation / Even in the cannon's mouth

   c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene vii]

5. economicsA 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.

   dot-com bubble

   3 more examples

   real estate bubble

   Thanks to the proliferation of semiconductor chips and cell phones—the number of U.S. cell phones grew from essentially zero in 1983 to nearly two hundred million by the end of 2004, and as of 2003 over one billion cell phones were in use worldwide, so by the time the high-tech bubble approached its bursting point in 2000 and 2001, coltan had become an extremely hot commodity.

   2007, Elizabeth Grossman, High Tech Trash, Island Press, →ISBN, page 46

   The yawning gap between data-center expenditures and the rest of the economy has caused whispers of bubble to rise to a chorus. […] Rapid construction of canals, railroads, and the fiber-optic cables laid during the dot-com bubble all created frenzies of hype, investment, and financial speculation that crashed markets.

   2025 October 30, Matteo Wong, Charlie Warzel, “Here’s How the AI Crash Happens”, in The Atlantic

6. figurativelyThe emotional or physical atmosphere in which a subject is immersed; especially, a homogeneous atmosphere in which subjects are spared exposure to culture or ideas different from their own.

   "We know we're in a bubble," said one Villager interviewed for the film. "But it's a nice bubble".

   2022 February 6, Benedict Brook, “Dark side of paradise: 'Sinister' cracks show in perfect suburb”, in NZ Herald

   5 more examples

   Thomas, so often West Brom's most positive attacker down their left side and up against Salgado, twice almost burst the bubble of excitement around the ground but he had two efforts superbly saved by Robinson.

   2011 January 23, Alistair Magowan, “Blackburn 2 - 0 West Brom”, in BBC

   He’s wrapped up snugly in a cozy bubble of self-regard, talking for his own sake more than anyone else’s.

   2012 June 3, Nathan Rabin, “TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “Mr. Plow” (season 4, episode 9; originally aired 11/19/1992)”, in The A.V. Club

   Do you live in a bubble? There exists a new upper class that's completely disconnected from the average white American and American culture at large, argues Charles Murray, a libertarian political scientist and author.

   2016 March 24, “Do you live in a bubble? A quiz”, in PBS News

   Citizens of all political persuasions (not to mention members of the Trump administration) can increasingly live in their own news media bubbles, consuming only views similar to their own.

   2017 March 21, Michiko Kakutani, “‘The Death of Expertise’ Explores How Ignorance Became a Virtue”, in The New York Times, →ISSN

   Inside the right-wing Facebook bubble, President Trump’s response to Covid-19 has been strong and effective, Joe Biden is barely capable of forming sentences, and Black Lives Matter is a dangerous group of violent looters.

   2020 August 27, Kevin Roose, “What if Facebook Is the Real ‘Silent Majority’?”, in New York Times

   Synonyms: circumstances, ambience

7. An officer's station in a prison dormitory, affording views on all sides.

   Later that day, the unit was staffed with only one officer, who was required to stay in the bubble.

   1998, District of Columbia Appropriations for 1998: Hearings

8. obsoleteSomeone who has been ‘bubbled’ or fooled; a dupe.

   Gany's a cheat, and I'm a bubble.

   1709, Matthew Prior, Cupid and Ganymede

   1 more example

   For no woman, sure, will plead the passion of love for an excuse. This would be to own herself the mere tool and bubble of the man.

   1749, Henry Fielding, Tom Jones, Folio Society, published 1979, page 15

9. A small, hollow, floating bead or globe, formerly used for testing the strength of spirits.
10. The globule of air in the chamber of a spirit level.
11. CockneyslangA laugh.

    Are you having a bubble?!

    Synonyms: giraffe, bubble bath

12. CockneyslangA Greek.

    Synonyms: bubble and squeak

13. historicalcomputingAny of the small magnetized areas that make up bubble memory.
14. card gamesIn 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).

    Many players tend to play timidly (not play many hands) around the bubble, to keep their chips and last longer in the game.

15. hobbiesThe cutoff point between qualifying, advancing or being invited to a tournament, or having one's competition end.

    bubble watch

16. chiefly COVID-19 pandemicA quarantine environment containing multiple people or facilities isolated from the rest of society.

    "There was an empty room and this is my house," Mark Philip told the Herald. "Where am I supposed to go? Whose bubble am I supposed to infect?"

    2020 April 7, “Covid 19 coronavirus: Police called after Mt Eden landlord tries to move into flat during lockdown”, in New Zealand Herald

17. The people who are in this quarantine.
18. abbreviationellipsisEllipsis of travel bubble.
19. slangbroadcastingA bulb or lamp; the part of a lighting assembly that actually produces the light.

    A bare lamp (bulb, globe, 'bubble') radiates light in all directions.

    2013, Gerald Millerson, Lighting for TV and Film, page 296

20. drug paraphernaliaA specialized glass pipe having a sphere-shaped apparatus at one end.

present singular third person bubbles · participle present bubbling · participle past bubbled · past bubbled

1. intransitiveTo produce bubbles, to rise up in bubbles (such as in foods cooking or liquids boiling).

   The laminate is bubbling.

2. figurativelyintransitiveTo churn or foment, as if wishing to rise to the surface.

   Rage bubbled inside him.

   2 more examples

   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 […]

   1853, Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell, Ruth

   With some technical improvement, I could see how the process of imitating my work would soon become fast and streamlined, and the many dark potentials bubbled to the forefront of my mind.

   2022 December 31, Sarah Andersen, “The Alt-Right Manipulated My Comic. Then A.I. Claimed It.”, in The New York Times

3. figurativelyintransitiveTo rise through a medium or system, similar to the way that bubbles rise in liquid.

   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 […]

   2002, David Flanagan, JavaScript: the definitive guide

4. obsoleteraretransitiveTo cover or spread with bubbles
5. archaicraretransitiveTo delude, dupe, or hoodwink; to cheat.

   No, no, friend, I shall never be bubbled out of my religion in hopes only of keeping my place under another government […]

   1749, Henry Fielding, Tom Jones, Folio Society, published 1973, page 443

   2 more examples

   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.

   1711 June 12, Joseph Addison, The Spectator, number 89; republished in The Works of Joseph Addison, volume 1, New York: Harper & Brothers, 1842, page 142

   I need not tell your Worships, that this was done with so much cunning and artifice, —that the great Locke, who was seldom outwitted by false sounds, was nevertheless bubbled here.

   1759, Laurence Sterne, Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman

6. Northern EnglandScotlandintransitiveTo cry, weep.
7. transitiveTo pat a baby on the back so as to cause it to belch.

   Mother sat up, picked up baby, put him on shoulder, bubbled him.

   1958, David Mordecai Levy, Behavioral analysis: analysis of clinical observations of behavior as applied to mother-newborn relationships, page 358

   2 more examples

   Groggily her mind went back through the long hours to 10 P.M. She had fed Junior, bubbled him, diped him—according to plan.

   1942, McCall’s, volume 69, page 94

   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.

   1957, Conrad Nicholson Hilton, Be My Guest, page 52

8. transitiveTo cause to feel as if bubbling or churning.

   The frothing sensation bubbled him all over, a boiling without heat or any sound or light.

   2011, Tim O’Brien, Northern Lights, page 201

   2 more examples

   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.

   1922, Conal O’Riordan, In London: The Story of Adam and Marriage, page 164

   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.

   1973, Henry Cecil Walsh, Bonhomme: French-Canadian Stories and Sketches, page 9

9. transitiveTo express in a bubbly or lively manner.

   Rachel bubbled her thanks and brushed past the Reverend, me in tow.

   2008, Douglas Allen Rhodes, Sex and Murder, page 55

   4 more examples

   Mrs. Hinds beamed at Ipsie through pince-nez and bubbled her joy through thin lips, but Ipsie made no reply.

   1924, Stella Benson, Pipers and a Dancer, page 14

   Delighted with this promenade, little Edith bubbled her joy without cessation.

   1934, Inez Haynes Gillmore, Strange Harvest, page 417

   “She’s a little girl like me,” Beth bubbled. “Her name is Buttons, ’cause she has a small nose. And she has a twin, too, just like me. Only my twin’s name is Carly.”

   1999, Mollie Molay, Daddy by Christmas, page 106

   But Ms. Loomat, far from a negative reaction, bubbled her joy at the news even congratulating Ms Lee on her acquisition.

   2012, Andre Paul Goddard, The Blue Basin, page 414

10. transitiveTo form into a protruding round shape.

    She hasn’t bubbled her lips yet, has she?

    1978, Poul Anderson, The Night Face and Other Stories, page 159

    2 more examples

    She bubbled her lips at Junior and wrinkled her eyes.

    1929, The Saturday Evening Post, volume 201, page 50

    I didn’t see much connection between the Bunnies and Michelle—something bubbled her blouses, and I’d heard her whisper with my sister about training bras, but her body was angular, skinny.

    2005, Tracy Daugherty, Late in the Standoff: Stories and a Novella, page 17

11. transitiveTo cover with bubbles.

    Oily beads of sweat bubbled his forehead.

    2007, Jason Blacker, Black Dog Bleeding, page 8

    2 more examples

    Her mouth hung slightly open and water droplets bubbled her forehead, like oversized sweat.

    1994, Jonathan Kellerman, Bad Love, page 57

    Tears of thanksgiving bubbled her eyes and blurred her vision.

    2005, Syne Mitchell, End in Fire, page 187

12. transitiveTo bubble in; to mark a response on a form by filling in a circular area (‘bubble’).

    You don’t want to go back and forth between the test booklet and your answer sheet to bubble your answers.

    2019, Crash Course for the ACT, 6th Edition: Your Last-Minute Guide to Scoring High, page 15

    2 more examples

    Cross out answers as you eliminate them, and practice bubbling your answers on the sheet provided at the very end of the book.

    2011, Allison Amend, Adam Robinson, Cracking the SAT.: Literature Subject Test, page 126

    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.

    2014, Cammie McGovern, Say What You Will

13. computingTo apply a filter bubble, as to search results.
14. intransitiveTo join together in a support bubble
15. UKslangtransitiveTo grass (report criminal activity to the authorities).