English

Alternative forms

• hubble bubble

Noun

hubble-bubble ‎(plural hubble-bubbles)

1. a hookah
   • 1831, The Mirror of Literature, Amusement and Instruction:

     In India, the lower orders use a hookah or hubble bubble, which is made of a cocoa-nut shell well cleaned out, having a hole through the soft eye of the shell, and another on the opposite side, a little lower down, the first of which is used for the chauffoir, and the other to suck or draw the smoke from.

   • 1878, William M. Tileston, A Trip to the Tea Country:

     I lighted a cigar, and Akong smoked his hubble-bubble, a small copy of the nargileh of the Turks.

   • 1887, G.M. Fenn, Yussuf the Guide:

     … and then all at once the muttering bubbling noise made by Yussuf's pipe seemed to be coming from the old lawyer's parted lips, and the pipe, instead of justifying its name of “hubble-bubble,” kept on saying snorruk—snorruk, after the fashion of Mr. Burne.