bulb

bulb
\ \ [16] Bulb can be traced back to Greek bólbos, which was a name for various plants with a rounded swelling underground stem. In its passage via Latin bulbus to English it was often applied specifically to the ‘onion’, and that was its original meaning in English. Its application to the light bulb, dating from the 1850s, is an extension of an earlier 19th-century sense ‘bulbshaped swelling in a glass tube’, used from the 1830s for thermometer bulbs.

Word origins - 2ed. . 2005.

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Synonyms:
(like those of the onion and the tulip) /


Look at other dictionaries:

  • bulb — bulb …   Dictionnaire des rimes

  • bulb — BULB, bulbi, s.m. 1. Tulpină (subterană) a unor plante, alcătuită din frunze în formă de tunici sau solzi suprapuşi (în care se depun substanţe de rezervă), cu un înveliş membranos uscat. 2. (În sintagmele) Bulb pilos = partea terminală, umflată …   Dicționar Român

  • Bulb — (b[u^]lb), n. [L. bulbus, Gr. bolbo s: cf. F. bulbe.] 1. (Bot.) A spheroidal body growing from a plant either above or below the ground (usually below), which is strictly a bud, consisting of a cluster of partially developed leaves, and producing …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • bulb — [bulb] n. [ME < L bulbus < Gr bolbos] 1. an underground bud that sends down roots and consists of a very short stem covered with leafy scales or layers, as in a lily, onion or hyacinth 2. a corm, tuber, or tuberous root resembling a bulb,… …   English World dictionary

  • bulb — [bʌlb] n ↑filament, ↑thread [Date: 1500 1600; : Latin; Origin: bulbus, from Greek bolbos plant with a bulb ] 1.) the glass part of an electric light, that the light shines from = ↑light bulb ▪ a 100 watt bulb …   Dictionary of contemporary English

  • bulb — (n.) 1560s, an onion, from M.Fr. bulbe, from L. bulbus bulb, onion, from Gk. bolbos plant with round swelling on underground stem. Expanded by 1800 to swelling in a glass tube (thermometer bulb, light bulb, etc.) …   Etymology dictionary

  • bulb — bulb; bulb·less; bulb·let; pseu·do·bulb; …   English syllables

  • Bulb — Bulb, v. i. To take the shape of a bulb; to swell. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • bulb — [ bʌlb ] noun count * 1. ) the part of a plant that is shaped like an onion from which a flower grows. You plant bulbs in the ground: daffodil bulbs 2. ) a LIGHT BULB …   Usage of the words and phrases in modern English

  • bulb — ► NOUN 1) a rounded underground storage organ present in some plants, consisting of a short stem surrounded by fleshy leaf bases. 2) a light bulb. 3) an expanded or rounded part at the end of something. ORIGIN Greek bolbos onion, bulbous root …   English terms dictionary

  • bulb — Mot Monosíl·lab Nom masculí …   Diccionari Català-Català

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