English

A typical bubbler

A Benson bubbler in Portland, Oregon

Noun

bubbler ‎(plural bubblers)

1. Something that emits bubbles.
   • 1860, Charles Stuart Forbes, Iceland; Its Volcanoes, Geysers and Glaciers, page 247,

     In proof of this I can assert my success in extinguishing a youthful bubbler near Reykholt church.

2. An airstone for an aquarium.
3. (Wisconsin, New England, fossil in Oregon, Australia) A drinking fountain.
   • 1919 February, United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, Issue 250, page 39,

     There are many types of fountain from which persons may drink by taking the nozzle of the bubbler into the mouth, and this practice is common ; furthermore, there are many types in the use of which water from the lips of the consumer falls back onto the bubbler at the point of outlet.

   • 1939 June, Ella Gardner, Short-Time Camps: A Manual for 4-H Leaders, United States Department of Agriculture, Miscellaneous Publication No. 346, page 11,

     Plans for an inexpensive bubbler or drinking fountain that have been worked out by the 4-H Club department in Massachusetts are shown in figure 4.

   • 1962 February, Repairs and Utilities: Refrigeration, Air Conditioning, Mechanical Ventilation, and Evaporative Cooling, United States Department of the Army, Technical Manual TM 5-670, page 82,

     Small self-contained water coolers have a limited capacity of cooled water. They are equipped with one bubbler or drinking fountain and have a capacity of about 5 gallons of cooled water per hour or less.

4. (cannabis subculture) A device used for smoking marijuana, similar to a cannabis pipe but with a section that holds water, like a bong
5. (obsolete) One who cheats.
   • 1772, Alexander Pope, “Letter VII”, in The Works of Alexander Pope, Esq, volume V, London: [s.n.], OCLC 906470759, page 227:

     ...above all the Jews, jobbers, bubblers, ſubſcribers, projectors, directors, governors, treaſurers, &c.

6. (US) A fish of the Ohio river; so called from the noise it makes.

Usage notes

In Portland, Oregon, used primarily in the phrase “Benson Bubbler”.

Synonyms

• (drinking fountain): drinking fountain, water fountain
• (device for smoking marijuana): bubbler bong

Anagrams

• blubber

References

• Map of “bubbler, drinking fountain, water fountain” usage in the United States, Harvard Dialect Survey, Bert Vaux
• The Meaning of the Bubbler
• Use of bubbler as a synonym for drinking fountain, LINGUIST List 5.1377, Fri 02 Dec 1994
• Wisconsin Englishes: Words