Wiktionary

bulb

English edit

 
Flowers growing from a bulb (lower left)

Etymology edit

From Middle English bulb, bolbe, from Latin bulbus (“bulb, onion”), from Ancient Greek βολβός (bolbós, “plant with round swelling on underground stem”).

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

bulb (plural bulbs)

  1. 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).
  2. (dated, neuroanatomy) The medulla oblongata.
  3. 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
    1. A light bulb (not necessarily bulbous in shape).
      an incandescent bulb
      an LED bulb
      a fluorescent tube bulb
  4. (nautical) A bulbous protuberance at the forefoot of certain vessels to reduce turbulence.
  5. (obsolete) An onion.

Derived terms edit

Related terms edit

Translations edit

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.

Verb edit

bulb (third-person singular simple present bulbs, present participle bulbing, simple past and past participle bulbed)

  1. (intransitive) To take the shape of a bulb; to swell.

References edit

  1. ^ 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, →DOI, →ISBN, § 2, page 88.

Anagrams edit

Catalan edit

Etymology edit

Borrowed from Latin bulbus.

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

bulb m (plural bulbs)

  1. (botany) bulb (bulb-shaped root of a plant)

Derived terms edit

Related terms edit

Further reading edit

Romanian edit

Etymology edit

Borrowed from French bulbe.

Noun edit

bulb m (plural bulbi)

  1. bulb

Declension edit

Declension of bulb
singular plural
indefinite articulation definite articulation indefinite articulation definite articulation
nominative/accusative (un) bulb bulbul (niște) bulbi bulbii
genitive/dative (unui) bulb bulbului (unor) bulbi bulbilor
vocative bulbule bulbilor
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