Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Bubble

Bub′ble, n. [Cf. D. bobbel, Dan. boble, Sw. bubbla. Cf. Blob, n.] 1. A thin film of liquid inflated with air or gas; as, a soap bubble; bubbles on the surface of a river.

Beads of sweat have stood upon thy brow, Like bubbles in a late disturbed stream. Shak.

2. A small quantity of air or gas within a liquid body; as, bubbles rising in champagne or aërated waters.

3. A globule of air, or globular vacuum, in a transparent solid; as, bubbles in window glass, or in a lens.

4. A small, hollow, floating bead or globe, formerly used for testing the strength of spirits.

5. The globule of air in the spirit tube of a level.

6. Anything that wants firmness or solidity; that which is more specious than real; a false show; a cheat or fraud; a delusive scheme; an empty project; a dishonest speculation; as, the South Sea bubble.

Then a soldier . . . Seeking the bubble reputation Even in the cannon's mouth. Shak.

7. A person deceived by an empty project; a gull. [Obs.] "Ganny's a cheat, and I'm a bubble." Prior.

Bub′ble, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Bubbled; p. pr. & vb. n. Bubbling.] [Cf. D. bobbelen, Dan. boble. See Bubble, n.] 1. To rise in bubbles, as liquids when boiling or agitated; to contain bubbles.

The milk that bubbled in the pail. Tennyson.

2. To run with a gurgling noise, as if forming bubbles; as, a bubbling stream. Pope.

3. To sing with a gurgling or warbling sound.

At mine ear Bubbled the nightingale and heeded not. Tennyson.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.