bulb
verbEtymology Inherited from Middle English bulb, bolbe, from Latin bulbus (“bulb, onion”), from Ancient Greek βολβός (bolbós, “plant with round swelling on underground stem”).
1
To take the shape of a bulb; to swell.
bulb
noun/ˈbʌlb/ · /ˈbʌb/
Etymology Inherited from Middle English bulb, bolbe, from Latin bulbus (“bulb, onion”), from Ancient Greek βολβός (bolbós, “plant with round swelling on underground stem”).
1
The bulb-shaped underground portion of a plant such as a tulip, consisting of a shortened stem and many fleshy scale leaves, from which the rest of the plant may be regrown.
- the plants which grow in the earth from seed or bulbs.2005, Plato, translated by Lesley Brown, Sophist, page 265c:
- 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).2015 February 7, Val Bourne, “The quiet man of the world of snowdrops”, in The Daily Telegraph (London), page G8:
2
Anatomy, Medicine, Neuroanatomy, Neurology, Neuroscience, Sciences Dated 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
4
A light bulb (not necessarily bulbous in shape).
- an incandescent bulb
- an LED bulb
1 more example
- a fluorescent tube bulb
6
Obsolete An onion.
- Derived terms
42 terms
bulbar, bulbectomy, bulbhead, bulbheaded, bulb horn, bulbitis, bulbless, bulblet, bulblike, bulboid, bulbophile, bulb-out, bulb tee, bulby, bus bulb, dim-bulb, dim bulb, dry bulb temperature, dry-bulb temperature, Edison bulb, endbulb, flashbulb, gliobulb, hair bulb, hemibulb, hot bulb, lamp-bulb, lamp bulb, light bulb, Mandelbulb, not the brightest bulb, not the brightest bulb in the chandelier, pseudobulb, rebulb, tulip bulb, urethral bulb, wet-and-dry-bulb hygrometer, wet bulb, wet-bulb, wet bulbing, wet-bulb temperature, wet bulb temperature- Related terms
- bulbiferous, bulbil, bulbous