bubble--prophetes.ai

▪ I. bubble, n.
    (ˈbʌb(ə)l)
    Also 5 boble, bobel, 6 bubbul, 7 buble.
    [orig. f. the verb: see also the earlier burble n. found c 1350. Parallel ns. in other Teutonic langs. are Sw. bubbla, Da. boble, Du. bobbel, Ger. dial. bobbel, bubbel. In their development the vb. and n. appear to have influenced each other: see sense 5.]
    1. A thin globular (or hemispherical) vesicle of water or other liquid, filled with air or gas; applied alike to those produced by the agitation of a quantity of the liquid, or the uprising of gas to the surface, and to those artificially made by blowing through a tube; often = soap-bubble. Also a quantity of air or gas occluded within a liquid; spec., the portion of air left in the spirit-level. Sometimes applied to cavities produced by occluded air in solid substances that have cooled from fusion. to blow bubbles: to produce bubbles by blowing through a tube; often fig. to devise baseless theories, or to amuse oneself in a childish manner.

1481 Caxton Myrr. ii. xxi. 113 The water of those wellis sprynge vp with grete bobles. 1528 Paynell Salerne Regim. H b, Hit [wyne] hath great bubbuls and spume. 1605 Shakes. Macb. i. iii. 722 The Earth hath bubbles, as the Water ha's. 1626 Bacon Sylva §24 Bubbles, are in the form of an Hemisphere; Air within, and a little Skin of Water without. a 1677 Hale True Relig. ii. (1684) 32 Boys..blow Bubbles out of a Wall-nut-shell. 1728 Young Love Fame ii. (1757) 99 What are men..But bubbles on the rapid stream of time? 1783 Cowper Lett. 29 Sept., One generation blows bubbles, and the next breaks them. 1831 Lardner Hydrostatics iv. 75 If the bubble stand still in the middle, it proves the instrument [spirit level] to be correct. 1879 G. B. Prescott Sp. Telephone Introd. 1 A bubble of hydrogen rose to the surface, as the bubble from champagne does in the wine cup.

† 2. transf. a. A hollow globe of thin glass, produced by blowing; spec. one of the hollow beads of glass formerly used for testing the strength of spirits (see bead 7). b. Hist. Used to translate L. bulla a round ornament of gold or leather worn by the children of Roman freemen. Obs.

1647 Stapylton Juvenal v. 194 What poore man..had Hetrurian bubbles when he was a lad. Ibid. Comm. 154 æmilius Lepidus..had a statue in his pretexted purple and golden bulla's (or bubbles) set up in the capitol. 1660 Boyle New Exp. Phys.-Mech. ii. 40 Glass bubles, such as are wont to be blown at the flame of a lamp. Ibid. xx. (1682) 71 Then was taken a great Glass bubble, with a long neck. 1667 Pepys Diary (1877) V. 419 He..did give me a glass bubble, to try the strength of liquors with.

c. A motor-car. U.S. colloq. Also (in U.K.) short for bubble car.

1918 Wodehouse Piccadilly Jim xxiii. 209 From the direction of the street, came the roar of a starting automobile... ‘Gee! He's beat it in my bubble—and it was a hired one!’ 1920 ― Coming of Bill ii. xiii. 231 I'll take you out in the bubble—the automobile, the car, the chug-chug wagon. 1958 Economist (Suppl.) 25 Oct. 5/1 Entirely different kinds of car: first, a standard large-sized model for the export markets..; second, some kind of ‘people's car’ to tap the new market of our own masses; more recently, motorised bubbles to float their way through growing traffic congestion. 1966 P. Moloney Plea for Mersey 51 Here rows of meters guard from crowding troubles, Rolls, Bentleys, Daimlers, Jaguars and Bubbles. 1967 J. B. Priestley It's Old Country vi. 65 Half a dozen cars, ranging from a gigantic old Rolls to a three-wheel bubble, were already parked.

d. The transparent domed canopy over the cockpit of an aeroplane. Freq. attrib.

1945 Jrnl. R. Aeronaut. Soc. XLIX. 315/2 You..showed great foresight..[with] such developments as the gyro-stabilised gun sight, bubble canopy,..gas turbine and jet power plant. 1949 Aeronautics Jan. 35/2 The awkward cockpit canopy has been redesigned as a ‘bubble’ type. 1955 Amer. Speech XXX. 117 Bubble, n., the plexiglass canopy covering the cockpit.

3. fig. Anything fragile, unsubstantial, empty, or worthless; a deceptive show. From 17th c. onwards often applied to delusive commercial or financial schemes, as the Mississippi bubble, the South Sea bubble.

1599 Marston Sco. Villanie ii. vi. 198 To see this butterfly, This windy bubble taske my balladry. 1600 Shakes. A.Y.L. ii. vii. 152 Seeking the bubble Reputation Euen in the Canons mouth. a 1626 Bacon Ps. in Farr S.P. (1848) 301 Mortality: This bubble light, this vapour of our breath. c 1665 in Roxb. Ballads (1886) VI. 254 Why should a Woman dote on such a Bubble? 1721 Swift S. Sea Proj. Wks. 1755 III. ii. 138 The nation..will find..South-sea at best a mighty bubble. 1745 De Foe Eng. Tradesm. (1841) II. xliv. 157 In the good old days of trade, there were no bubbles, no stock-jobbing. 1783 Cowper Task iii. 175 Eternity for bubbles proves at last A senseless bargain. 1858 Sat. Rev. 27 Nov. 524/1 We are asked..to back the luck of that gigantic bubble, the French Empire.

b. attrib. or adj.: Unsubstantial, fragile, delusive; often with reference to fraudulent commercial undertakings, as in bubble company, bubble scheme.

1635 Quarles Embl. i. iv. (1718) 19 What's lighter than the mind? A thought. Than thought? This bubble world. 1726 Amherst Terræ Fil. xii. 59 Several bubble-schools and academies sprung up. 1762–71 H. Walpole Vertue's Anecd. Paint. (1786) III. 119 He..was concerned in a bubble Lottery. 1798 Edgeworth Pract. Educ. (1801) II. 373 This wager would have been a bubble bet if it had been brought before the Jockey-club. a 1845 Hood Black Job xvii, No..Bubble Company could hope to thrive.

4. The process of bubbling; the sound made by bubbling; a state of agitation. Naut. phr.: a bubble of a sea: cf. bobble.

1839 Beale in Sat. Mag. 18 May 192/1 An awkward ‘bubble’ of a sea..began to make. 1840 Marryat Poor Jack xxiv, There was a bubble of a sea. 1874 Mrs. Whitney We Girls xix. 187 There was nothing but a low, comfortable bubble in the chimney-corner to tell of..dinner.

† 5. One who may be or is ‘bubbled’ (sense 5 of the verb); a dupe, a gull. Obs.

1668 Sedley Mulb. Gard. iv. Wks. 1722 II. 56 Are any of these Gentlemen good Bubbles, Mr. Wildish? 1702 De Foe Reform. Manners i. 315 The wondring Bubbles stand amaz'd to see Their Money Mountebank'd to Mercury. 1735–8 Bolingbroke On Parties 144 They were not such Bubbles as to alter, without mending, the Government. a 1774 Goldsm. tr. Scarron's Comic Rom. (1775) I. 21 He generally dined and supped in taverns at the expence of every fool and bubble he met with. 1807 Crabbe Par. Reg. i. Wks. 1834 II. 151 A board, beneath a tiled retreat Allures the bubble, and maintains the cheat.

6. Comb. (see also 3 b), as bubble-blower, bubble-blowing ppl. adj. and vbl. n., bubble-filled adj.; bubble bath, a bath in which the water has been made to foam by a perfumed toilet preparation; such a preparation, in a liquid or crystal form; also fig.; bubble car, a miniature motor-car with a transparent domed top; bubble chamber, a container of super-heated liquid for the detection of ionizing particles; bubble-dancer U.S., a woman who dances as if in the nude, covered by one or more balloons; † bubble-glass, glass as thin as a bubble (see also 2 a); bubble-gum, chewing-gum which can be blown into large bubbles; bubble-man (see quot.); bubble sextant (see quot. 1935); bubble-shell, a sort of mollusc; bubble-trier, an instrument used for testing the accuracy of the tubes of spirit-levels; bubble-tube, the glass tube of a spirit-level containing spirit and enclosing an air-bubble.

1949 L. Charteris in Queen's Awards (1951) IV. 299 ‘I was having a *bubble bath,’ said Pauline Stone. 1960 Koestler Lotus & Robot ii. vi. 166 Then the lights go up, the town changes into a bubble-bath of coloured neon. 1969 Woman 10 May 22 Bath essence, bath oil, bubble bath, bath cubes.

1957 Observer 20 Oct. 3/3 The B.M.C...are not interested in *bubble cars as now known, but only in properly engineered vehicles. 1958 Spectator 13 June 762/1 The tiniest bubble-car I ever set eyes on.

1953 Physical Rev. XCI. 496/2 (title) A possible ‘*bubble chamber’ for the study of ionizing events. Ibid. 762/1 Bubble-chamber tracks of penetrating cosmic-ray particles. 1969 Times 5 Feb. 13/6 The tracks are recorded by taking high-speed photographs of the tank, or bubble chamber as it is called.

1936 Time 11 May 28/2 Pre-honeymoon is concerned with the love of a U.S. Senator for a *bubble dancer.

1882 Macm. Mag. XLVI. 122 The iron-impregnated, *bubble-filled fountains of Schwalbach.

1591 Spenser Ruines of Time 50 Why then dooth flesh, a *bubble-glas of breath, Hunt after honour?

1937 Night & Day 16 Sept. 28/2 *Bubble Gum..is particularly intriguing. 1958 P. Mortimer Daddy's gone A-Hunting i. 7 The steady, pungent smell of bubble gum.

1862 Mayhew Crim. Prisons 46 Cheats, subdivisible into..*bubble-men, who institute annuity offices and assurance companies.

1920 Flight XII. 375/2 *Bubble sextant. 1935 C. G. Burge Compl. Bk. Aviation 194/1 Bubble Sextant, a sextant employing a bubble device to provide an artificial horizon. Normally employed for determining the altitude of a celestial body.

1854 Woodward Mollusca (1856) 14 The *bubble-shell (phyline), itself predacious, is eaten both by star-fish and sea-anemone.

a 1877 Knight Dict. Mech., *Bubble-trier, an instrument for testing the delicacy and accuracy of the tubes for holding the spirit in leveling-instruments. 1890 W. F. Stanley Surveying Instr. 88 The Bubble Trier is a bar or bed 12 to 20 inches long, with two extended feet ending in points at one end, and a micrometer screw, the point of which forms a resting foot, at the other end, thereby forming a tripod.

1888 Lockwood's Dict. Mech. Engin., *Bubble Tube, or Spirit Glass, the tube of a spirit-level which contains the enclosed spirit. 1890 W. F. Stanley Surveying Instr. 86 Level Tubes, or Bubble Tubes as they are technically termed, are used in nearly all important surveying instruments.

Add: 6. bubble-gum, (b) (in full, bubble-gum music), bland, repetitive pop music designed to appeal esp. to children and young teenagers (dismissive).

1969 Oz Apr. 40/1 That group just couldn't get a tour..in the States. America has enough of its own bubblegum music. 1971 Melody Maker 9 Oct. 11/7, I suppose one could say that bubblegum was outrageous, I mean there's nothing more outrageous than ‘Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep’. 1986 N.Y. Times 14 May c1/5 If old bubble gum music is on I sing at the top of my lungs, and if new funkadelic is on I bop in my seat.

bubble memory Computing, a type of memory which stores data as a pattern of magnetic bubbles (see magnetic a. 5) in a thin layer of magnetic material.

1971 Jrnl. Appl. Physics XLII. 2361 Recently proposed *bubble-memory designs employing Permalloy rails are examined to determine an optimization of their geometries. 1984 Austral. Micro Computerworld Feb. 32/3 Some of the operating system is held on disk or bubble memory, and a bubble cartridge or disk drive is needed to boot the system. 1990 Personal Computer World Aug. 157/3 There have been some spectacular failures in the storage world (who remembers bubble memory?).

     ▸ Econ. (orig. U.S.). An unsustainable or exaggerated rise in the price of a stock or commodity. Cf. sense 3 and later bubble economy n. at Additions
    Freq. in extended metaphors, with burst, pricked, etc.

1870 Harper's Mag. Apr. 747/1 Sound as were the theories of the gamblers for a further rise..they overlooked the law that violent reactions invariably checker periods of inflation. The course of bubbles, like that of true love, never does run smooth. 1899H. C. Emery in Econ. Jrnl. 9 55 All this must be taken at rising prices by the clique, for, when they show themselves unable to absorb more, the price breaks with the stoppage of demand and the bubble bursts. 1937 ‘E. Queen’ Devil to Pay i. 3 When the Ohippi Bubble burst, even people who were not stockholders devoured the Los Angeles dispatches. 1945 Jrnl. Polit. Econ. 53 255/2 (note) The grave deterioration in the farmers' domestic markets added momentum to the deflationary plunge on which the country had been launched after the inventory speculation bubble had been pricked. 1976 Glasgow Herald 26 Nov. 13/7 In the soft commodity markets the cocoa ‘bubble’ has burst with a vengeance and prices have plunged. 1999 Eurobusiness Sept. 36/2 Highly rated Internet companies are headed for a cataclysmic fall in values before the year is out. This is the biggest bubble the world has ever seen.

▸ bubble curl n. Hairdressing (orig. and chiefly Brit.) a small, tight, lightweight curl of hair (usually in pl.); cf. later bubble cut n. at Additions.

1957 J. Braine Room at Top xi. 113 Her picture-postcard face with the dyed red *bubble⁓curls. 1991 Dance Res. 9 51 He flouts every rule of gender (sporting..a white apron, bubble curl wig, dildo and bare bottom). 2001 Mirror (Electronic ed.) 6 Mar. There is simply no mass fashion for scrunching or demi-perms, crimping or bubble curls to disguise any out of condition bits.

▸ bubble-curled adj. Hairdressing (orig. and chiefly Brit.) having bubble curls.

1990 Independent (Nexis) 10 Nov. (Weekend section) 44 Nearly all the youngish teachers, bearded men and *bubble-curled women, were English, Scottish or Irish. 1998 Daily Tel. (Electronic ed.) 10 Dec. An olive-skinned, bubble-curled cherub fallen straight from a Renaissance painting.

▸ bubble cut n. Hairdressing a style in which the hair is cut short and formed into small, tight curls; cf. later bubble perm n. at Additions.

[1962 Newsweek 12 Mar. 51/1 The bouffant, a hairdo..whose tortured variations—mushroom, flip, French twist,..and bubble—began sprouting a few years back.] 1973 G. de Courtais Women's Headdress & Hairstyles 160 The *Bubble cut..was inspired by Ingrid Bergman in For Whom the Bell Tolls. 1977J. Rosenthal Spend, Spend, Spend in Bar Mitzvah Boy & Other Television Plays (1987) 172 Bubble-cuts were miles behind the times before my dad let me have one. 1998 P. McCabe Breakfast on Pluto viii. 23 A perfume-sprayed vision called Mitzi Gaynor with a head of gorgeous bubble-cut curls that would make any man's privates go—sprong!

▸ bubble economy n. an economy undergoing an unsustainable boom; spec. a period of heightened prosperity and increased commercial activity in Japan in the late 1980s, principally arising from inflated land and stock prices, low interest rates, and excessive lending.

1952 L. B. Simpson Exploitation of Land in Central Mexico i. 10 (caption) It may be that sheep raising in the early years is another instance of *bubble economy, like silk. 1983 Jrnl. Interamer. Stud. & World Affairs 25 548 It was evident that the Chilean bubble economy had to disinflate. 1990 Los Angeles Times (Nexis) 28 Mar. d4/5 Eiji Suzuki..called the trouble ‘an exposure of (Japan's) bubble economy’ and warned that if the government and the central bank fail to take appropriate measures, ‘the bubble will burst’. 1997 Amer. Econ. Rev. 87 505/1 The effects of the ‘bubble economy’ in Japan could be transmitted to U.S. credit markets through the U.S. branches of Japanese banks.

▸ bubble-jet n. a system of ink-jet printing in which the ink is heated, producing bubbles which force droplets of ink on to the paper; freq. attrib., esp. in bubble-jet printer.

1985 PC Week 17 Dec. 59/2 The newest of these technologies is sometimes called *bubble-jet, after the Canon printer in which it is incorporated. 1993 Australian 9 Mar. 20/3 The personal computer has taken a step forward with the launch of Canon's BN22 bubble-jet notebook—a portable computer with a built-in printer. 2000 PrintWeek 25 Feb. 12/1 Canon has launched a bubblejet printer to produce business cards and postcards.

▸ bubble perm n. Hairdressing (orig. and chiefly Brit.) a tightly-curled, often voluminous perm; cf. earlier bubble-permed adj. at Additions.

1992 Guardian (Nexis) 5 Sept. (Tabloid section) 4 His long, lank hair remained unfeathered and unlayered right up until the time he unwisely decided upon a *bubble perm from hell some time in the mid-Seventies. 2001 Independent on Sunday (Electronic ed.) 19 Aug. Merseyside is already attracting some of the most glamorous names in Hollywood, defying the endless jokes about shell suits and bubble perms.

▸ bubble-permed adj. Hairdressing (orig. and chiefly Brit.) having or characterized by a bubble perm.

1989 Today 23 Jan. 32/3 The Mob that *bubble-permed Michelle Pfeiffer marries into permanently talk out of the side of their mouths. 1999 Independent (Electronic ed.) 24 Aug. Elland Road continues to be a happy hunting ground for Liverpool, who now boast a record of 10 wins and only three defeats in 18 visits stretching back to Kevin Keegan's bubble-permed pomp.

▸ bubble tea n. a type of drink of East Asian origin which blends tea, coffee, etc., with sweetener, flavouring, and tapioca pearls, shaken to a froth and usually served cold with a wide straw.

1993 Straits Times (Singapore) 24 Sept. (Life Suppl.) 25/2 The popular *bubble tea is hot tea cooled with ice and shakened [sic] like cocktails to create a foam. 2004 Vegetarian Times May 61 Although it originated in Taiwan, bubble tea has attracted a pan-Asian following and is now making inroads in non-Asian communities.

▸ to burst (also prick) a person's bubble: to deflate the presumption or self-importance of a person; to shatter a person’s illusions.

1874 Christian Union 25 Mar. 224/2 ‘Talk loud and fast, put a good deal of sweat into it, and they will believe anything you say.’ ‘But..suppose some sensible man who knows more than I do should prick my bubble?’ 1895 B. Perry Plated City viii. 158 That is positively all there was to it. I'm sorry to prick your bubble. 1930 Coe Coll. Cosmos (Cedar Rapids, Iowa) 6 Mar. 2/4 One of the boys pricked his bubble by saying, ‘You're not so hot.’ 1951 Austin (Minnesota) Daily Herald 31 Jan. 7/2, I hate to burst your bubble, but I've had many friends call me and stop me on the street to tell me they thought it was the dirtiest piece of business they ever heard of. 1999 C. Brookmyre One Fine Day in Middle of Night (2000) 80 Entertained by the knowledge that the more inflated he got, the bigger the bang when she burst his bubble.

▪ II. bubble, v.
    (ˈbʌb(ə)l)
    Also 5–8 buble, 6 bobyll.
    [Found (in the vbl. n. bubbling) a 1400. Parallel words are Sw. bubla, Da. boble, mod.Du. and LG. bobbelen, mod.G. dial. bobbelen, bubbelen; all of these are modern, and it is doubtful how far they are related to each other, or are merely parallel imitative words, suggested either by the sound of bubbles forming and bursting, or by the action of the lips in making a bubble. The Eng. bubble can hardly be separated from the earlier burble, common in the same sense from 1300; cf. gurgle and guggle. In bubble the verb is the source of the n. as a whole, but sense 5 of the vb. appears to be derived from sense 3 of the n., and in turn to have given rise to sense 5 of the latter.]
    1. intr. To form bubbles (as boiling water, a running stream, etc.); to rise in bubbles (as gas through liquid, water from a spring, etc.; often with out or up); to emit the sounds due to the formation and bursting of bubbles.

1398 [see bubbling vbl. n.]. 1477 Norton Ord. Alch. in Ashm. iv. (1652) 47 Remember that Water will buble and boyle. 1530 Palsgr. 459/1 The potage begynneth to bobyll. 1580 H. Gifford Gilloflowers (1875) 10, I..feele certayne waters of vayne appetites to bubble vp w{supt} in me. 1609 Bible (Douay) Ex. viii. 3 The river shal bubble with frogges. 1633 P. Fletcher Purple Isl. iii. xx, Water, bubbling from this fountain. 1703 Maundrell Journ. Jerus. (1732) 63 Then bubbles up with abundance of Water. c 1750 Shenstone Elegy i. 4 Now hear the fountain bubbling round my cell. 1799 G. Smith Laboratory I. 329 Take good acid of nitre, and fling..chalk into it, till it..ceases to bubble. 1824–29 Landor Imag. Conv. (1846) I. 3 Many bright specks bubble up along the blue Egean. 1850 Tennyson In Mem. xcix, Yon swoll'n brook that bubbles fast. 1860 Gen. P. Thompson Audi Alt. III. ci. 1 The frozen notes came bubbling out together. 1871 Tyndall Fragm. Sc. I. iv. 97.

2. fig. a. Of things: To arise or issue like bubbles.

1652 Gaule Magastrom. 228 Whence then bubble out so many and so great errors in their prognostications? 1713 Beveridge Priv. Th. i. (1730) 94 So soon as any new Thought begins to bubble in my Soul. 1852 Kingsley Androm. 114 Feebly at last she began, while wild thoughts bubbled within her. a 1859 L. Hunt To J. H. ii, It bubbles into laughter. 1879 M{supc}Carthy Own Times II. 16 Chartism bubbled and sputtered a little yet.

b. Of persons: to bubble over, bubble up (with merriment, anger, etc.): fig. from the bubbling of a pot on the fire.

1858 Hawthorne Fr. & It. Jrnls. (1872) II. 173 He bubbled and brimmed over with fun. 1860 Tyndall Glac. i. §19. 133 One clergyman..appeared to bubble over with enjoyment. 1881 M. Lewis Two Pretty G. III. 97 He had his views..but he never bubbled up to discuss and defend them.

c. trans. To send forth like bubbles. (A Hebraism.)

1611 Bible Prov. xv. 2 The mouth of the fool poureth [marg. bubbleth] out foolishness. ― Ps. xlv. 1 My heart is inditing [marg. boyleth or bubbleth vp] a good matter.

3. intr. To make a sound resembling that made by bubbles in boiling or running water. Also trans. (with object denoting sound). rare.

1602 Metamorph. of Tobacco (Collier) 19 Pretie waues..Bubbled sweete Musicke with a daintie Sound. 1842 Sterling Ess. & Tales (1848) I. 459 Love, the name bubbled by every wave of Hippocrene. 1847 Tennyson Princ. iv. 247 At mine ears Bubbled the nightingale.

4. trans. To cover or spread with bubbles.

1598 Marston Pigmal. iv. 151 The haile-shot drops..onely bubble quiet Thetis face.

5. trans. To delude with ‘bubbles’ (see bubble n. 3); to befool, cheat, humbug. Also to bubble (any one) of, out of, or into a thing. Very common in 18th c.; now rarely used.

1675 Wycherley Countr. Wife iii. ii, He is to be bubbled of his mistress as of his money. 1702 The Eng. Theophrast. 37 Men are commonly bubbled when they first enter upon play. 1761 Murphy Citizen ii. i, And so here I am bubbled and choused out of my money. 1792 M. Wollstonecraft Rights Wom. Introd. 2 The understanding of the sex has been so bubbled by this specious homage. 1841 Hor. Smith Moneyed Man I. xi. 312 You have been preciously bubbled; ludicrously swindled and outwitted. 1880 M{supc}Carthy Own Times III. xli. 235 Some critics declared..that the French Emperor had ‘bubbled’ him [Mr. Cobden].

6. Sc. and north. dial. To blubber.

1727 Walker Remark. Pass. 60 (Jam.) John Knox..left her [Q. Mary] bubbling and greeting. Mod. Sc. What is he bubbling about now?

7. trans. To make (a baby) bring up wind; = burp v. 2. Also intr. U.S.

1943 L. J. Halpern How to raise a Healthy Baby i. 19 During the process of belching or ‘bubbling’ small amounts of milk come up with the swallowed air. 1946 B. Spock Common Sense Bk. Baby & Child Care 83 You need to ‘bubble’ your baby in the middle of a feeding only if he swallows so much air that it stops his nursing. 1963 M. McCarthy Group x. 221 The baby belched... ‘Someone should have come in to bubble him,’ she said. ‘He swallowed a lot of air.’