bulb
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Flowers growing from a bulb (lower left)
English
Etymology
From Middle English bulb, bolbe, from Latin bulbus (“bulb, onion”), from Ancient Greek βολβός (bolbós, “plant with round swelling on underground stem”).
Pronunciation
- enPR: bŭlb, IPA(key): /ˈbʌlb/
- (Southern American English, AAVE, obsolete) IPA(key): /ˈbʌb/
Audio (US) (file) - Rhymes: -ʌlb
Noun
bulb (plural bulbs)
- The bulb-shaped root portion of a plant such as a tulip, from which the rest of the plant may be regrown.
- 2005, Plato, translated by Lesley Brown, Sophist, page 265c:
- the plants which grow in the earth from seed or bulbs.
- 2015 February 7, Val Bourne, “The quiet man of the world of snowdrops”, in The Daily Telegraph (London), page G8:
- Once it [a snowdrop variety] became established, some bulbs were lifted and passed on to be chipped (i.e. cut into small pieces and grown on).
- (dated, neuroanatomy) The medulla oblongata.
- Any solid object rounded at one end and tapering on the other, possibly attached to a larger object at the tapered end.
- the bulb of the aorta
- A light bulb (not necessarily bulbous in shape).
- an incandescent bulb
- an LED bulb
- a fluorescent tube bulb
- (nautical) A bulbous protuberance at the forefoot of certain vessels to reduce turbulence.
- (obsolete) An onion.
Derived terms
- bulb-out
- bulb tee
- bus bulb
- dim-bulb
- dim bulb
- dry bulb temperature
- dry-bulb temperature
- Edison bulb
- flashbulb
- hair bulb
- hot bulb
- lamp bulb
- lampbulb
- light bulb
- not the brightest bulb
- not the brightest bulb in the chandelier
- tulip bulb
- urethral bulb
- wet-and-dry-bulb hygrometer
- wet-bulb
- wet bulb temperature
- wet-bulb temperature
Related terms
Translations
bulb-shaped root
|
rounded solid object
|
light bulb — see light bulb
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked
Verb
bulb (third-person singular simple present bulbs, present participle bulbing, simple past and past participle bulbed)
- (intransitive) To take the shape of a bulb; to swell.
References
- ^ Hall, Joseph Sargent (1942 March 2) “3. The Consonants”, in The Phonetics of Great Smoky Mountain Speech (American Speech: Reprints and Monographs; 4), New York: King's Crown Press, , →ISBN, § 2, page 88.
Anagrams
Catalan
Etymology
Pronunciation
Noun
bulb m (plural bulbs)
Derived terms
Related terms
Further reading
- “bulb” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
Romanian
Etymology
Noun
bulb m (plural bulbi)