Definify.com

Webster 1913 Edition

Bulb

Bulb

(bŭlb)
,
Noun.
[L.
bulbus
, Gr.
βολβός
: 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, as it grows, a stem above, and roots below, as in the onion, tulip, etc. It differs from a corm in not being solid.
2.
(Anat.)
A name given to some parts that resemble in shape certain bulbous roots;
as, the
bulb
of the aorta
.
Bulb of the eye
,
the eyeball.
–
Bulb of a hair
,
the “root,” or part whence the hair originates.
–
Bulb of the spinal cord
,
the medulla oblongata, often called simply bulb.
–
Bulb of a tooth
,
the vascular and nervous papilla contained in the cavity of the tooth.
3.
An expansion or protuberance on a stem or tube, as the bulb of a thermometer, which may be of any form, as spherical, cylindrical, curved, etc.
Tomlinson.
3.
a
light bulb
.

Bulb

,
Verb.
I.
To take the shape of a bulb; to swell.

Webster 1828 Edition

Bulb

BULB

,
Noun.
[L. bulbus, a bulb or round root.] A round body, applied to many objects. But in botany, it is appropriately a bud formed under ground, upon or near the roots of certain herbaceous plants, which are hence called bulbous plants, as the tulip, onion and lily. The bulb under ground is what the bud is upon the stem or branches, a hybernacle or winter receptacle of a future plant, containing the plant in embryo, covered with a bark or rind, generally consisting of scales placed over each other, to defend the tender rudiments of the plant from cold and other external injuries. A bulb is scaly in the lily, solid in the tulip, coated in the onion, and jointed in the tuberous moschatel.

BULB

,
Verb.
I.
To bulb out is to project or be protuberant. [Little used.]

Definition 2024

bulb

bulb

English

Flowers growing from a bulb (lower left).

Noun

bulb ‎(plural bulbs)

  1. 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
  2. A light bulb.
  3. The bulb-shaped root portion of a plant such as a tulip, from which the rest of the plant may be regrown.
    • 2005, Plato, Sophist. Translation by Lesley Brown. 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).
  4. (nautical) a bulbous protuberance at the forefoot of certain vessels to reduce turbulence.

Related terms

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

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.

Anagrams

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /bʌlb/, /boʊlb/
  • Rhymes: -ʌlb

Similar Results