Adjacent Words

Bounce definitions

	Tweet

Webster's 1828 Dictionary

BOUNCE, v.i.
1. To leap or spring; to fly or rush out suddenly.
Out bounced the mastiff.
2. To spring or leap against any thing, so as to rebound; to beat or thump by a spring.
Against his bosom bounced his heaving heart.
3. To beat hard, or thump, so as to make a sudden noise.
Another bounced as hard as he could knock.
4. To boast or bully; used in familiar speech.
5. To be bold or strong.
BOUNCE, n. A heavy blow, thrust or thump with a large solid body.
The bounce burst open the door.
1. A loud heavy sound, as by an explosion.
2. A boast; a threat; in low language.
3. A fish; a species of squalus or shark.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: the quality of a substance that is able to rebound [syn: bounce, bounciness]
2: a light, self-propelled movement upwards or forwards [syn: leap, leaping, spring, saltation, bound, bounce]
3: rebounding from an impact (or series of impacts) [syn: bounce, bouncing] v
1: spring back; spring away from an impact; "The rubber ball bounced"; "These particles do not resile but they unite after they collide" [syn: bounce, resile, take a hop, spring, bound, rebound, recoil, reverberate, ricochet]
2: hit something so that it bounces; "bounce a ball"
3: move up and down repeatedly [syn: bounce, jounce]
4: come back after being refused; "the check bounced" [ant: clear]
5: leap suddenly; "He bounced to his feet"
6: refuse to accept and send back; "bounce a check"
7: eject from the premises; "The ex-boxer's job is to bounce people who want to enter this private club"

Merriam Webster's

I. verb (bounced; bouncing) Etymology: Middle English bounsen Date: 13th century transitive verb 1. obsolete beat, bump 2. to cause to rebound or be reflected <bounce a ball> <bounce a light ray off a reflector> 3. a. dismiss, fire b. to expel precipitately from a place c. to eliminate from a competition by defeating <was bounced from the tournament in the first round> 4. to issue (a check) drawn on an account with insufficient funds 5. to present (as an idea) to another person to elicit comments or to gain approval — usually used with off intransitive verb 1. to rebound or reflect after striking a surface (as the ground) 2. to recover from a blow or a defeat quickly — usually used with back 3. to be returned by a bank because of insufficient funds in a checking account <his checks bounce> 4. a. to leap suddenly ; bound b. to walk with springing steps 5. to hit a baseball so that it hits the ground before it reaches an infielder II. noun Date: 1523 1. a. a sudden leap or bound b. rebound 2. bluster 3. verve, liveliness

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v. & n. --v. 1 a intr. (of a ball etc.) rebound. b tr. cause to rebound. c tr. & intr. bounce repeatedly. 2 intr. sl. (of a cheque) be returned by a bank when there are insufficient funds to meet it. 3 intr. a (foll. by about, up) (of a person, dog, etc.) jump or spring energetically. b (foll. by in, out, etc.) rush noisily, angrily, enthusiastically, etc. (bounced into the room; bounced out in a temper). 4 tr. colloq. (usu. foll. by into + verbal noun) hustle, persuade (bounced him into signing). 5 intr. colloq. talk boastfully. 6 tr. sl. eject forcibly (from a dancehall, club, etc.). --n. 1 a a rebound. b the power of rebounding (this ball has a good bounce). 2 colloq. a swagger, self-confidence (has a lot of bounce). b liveliness. 3 sl. an ejection. Phrases and idioms: bounce back regain one's good health, spirits, prosperity, etc. Etymology: ME bunsen beat, thump, (perh. imit.), or f. LG bunsen, Du. bons thump

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Bounce Bounce, v. t. 1. To drive against anything suddenly and violently; to bump; to thump. --Swift. 2. To cause to bound or rebound; sometimes, to toss. 3. To eject violently, as from a room; to discharge unceremoniously, as from employment. [Collog. U. S.] 4. To bully; to scold. [Collog.] --J. Fletcher.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Bounce Bounce, n. 1. A sudden leap or bound; a rebound. 2. A heavy, sudden, and often noisy, blow or thump. The bounce burst open the door. --Dryden. 3. An explosion, or the noise of one. [Obs.] 4. Bluster; brag; untruthful boasting; audacious exaggeration; an impudent lie; a bouncer. --Johnson. De Quincey.? 5. (Zo["o]l.) A dogfish of Europe (Scyllium catulus).

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Bounce Bounce, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Bounced; p. pr. & vb. n. Bouncing.] [OE. bunsen; cf. D. bonzen to strike, bounce, bons blow, LG. bunsen to knock; all prob. of imitative origin.] 1. To strike or thump, so as to rebound, or to make a sudden noise; a knock loudly. Another bounces as hard as he can knock. --Swift. Against his bosom bounced his heaving heart. --Dryden. 2. To leap or spring suddenly or unceremoniously; to bound; as, she bounced into the room. Out bounced the mastiff. --Swift. Bounced off his arm+chair. --Thackeray. 3. To boast; to talk big; to bluster. [Obs.]

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Bounce Bounce, adv. With a sudden leap; suddenly. This impudent puppy comes bounce in upon me. --Bickerstaff.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(bounces, bouncing, bounced) 1. When an object such as a ball bounces or when you bounce it, it moves upwards from a surface or away from it immediately after hitting it. I bounced a ball against the house... My father would burst into the kitchen bouncing a football. ...a falling pebble, bouncing down the eroded cliff... They watched the dodgem cars bang and bounce. VERB: V n prep, V n, V prep/adv, V, also V n with adv • Bounce is also a noun. The wheelchair tennis player is allowed two bounces of the ball. N-COUNT 2. If sound or light bounces off a surface or is bounced off it, it reaches the surface and is reflected back. Your arms and legs need protection from light bouncing off glass... They work by bouncing microwaves off solid objects. VERB: V off n, V n off n 3. If something bounces or if something bounces it, it swings or moves up and down. Her long black hair bounced as she walked... Then I noticed the car was bouncing up and down as if someone were jumping on it... The wind was bouncing the branches of the big oak trees. = bob VERB: V, V adv, V n 4. If you bounce on a soft surface, you jump up and down on it repeatedly. She lets us do anything, even bounce on our beds. VERB: V prep/adv, also V 5. If someone bounces somewhere, they move there in an energetic way, because they are feeling happy. Moira bounced into the office. VERB: V prep/adv 6. If you bounce your ideas off someone, you tell them to that person, in order to find out what they think about them. It was good to bounce ideas off another mind... Let's bounce a few ideas around. VERB: V n off n, V n around 7. If a cheque bounces or if a bank bounces it, the bank refuses to accept it and pay out the money, because the person who wrote it does not have enough money in their account. Our only complaint would be if the cheque bounced... His bank wrongly bounced cheques worth £75,000. VERB: V, V n 8. If an e-mail or other electronic message bounces, it is returned to the person who sent it because the address was wrong or because of a problem with one of the computers involved in sending it. (COMPUTING) VERB: V

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. n. 1. Knock, thump, sudden blow. 2. Bound, leap, jump, spring. 3. (Colloq.) Boast, vaunt, brag. 4. (Colloq.) Falsehood, lie, bouncer, whoppen. II. v. n. 1. Bolt, leap, or spring suddenly. 2. Rebound, recoil. 3. Knock, thump. See beat. III. v. a. Thrust, drive against.

1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue

To brag or hector; also to tell an improbable story. To bully a man out of any thing. The kiddey bounced the swell of the blowen; the lad bullied the gentleman out of the girl.

Moby Thesaurus

AM signal, CRT spot, DM display, Doppler signal, FM signal, Highland fling, IF signal, IM display, RF amplifier, RF echoes, RF signal, RF stage, adaptability, airiness, and jump, animation, ax, backfire, backlash, backlashing, beam, beat signal, blips, bludgeon, bluff, bluster, bluster and bluff, bob, bobble, boomerang, boot, boot out, bounce, bounce back, bounces, bounciness, bound, bound back, brag, brave show, break, breeziness, broad jump, browbeat, buck, buckjump, bulldoze, bully, bullyrag, bump, buoyance, buoyancy, bust, can, cannon, cannon off, caper, capriole, caracole, carefreeness, carom, cashier, cast, cast out, cavort, chatter, chirpiness, chuck out, clear, contrecoup, cow, curvet, cut a dido, cut capers, debonairness, defenestrate, defrock, degrade, demivolt, demote, deplume, depose, deprive, detrude, didder, direct signal, disbar, discard, discharge, disemploy, dismiss, displace, display, displume, dither, double-dot display, dragoon, drum out, dynamism, echo, echo signal, eject, elasticity, energy, exclude, expel, extensibility, extrude, falter, fire, flexibility, flounce, fly back, flying jump, frisk, furlough, galliard, gambado, gambol, gasconade, gelandesprung, get-up-and-go, give, give the ax, give the gate, give the hook, go, grand jete, grimace, handspring, have an ague, have repercussions, heave out, hector, high jump, hippety-hop, hop, hurdle, hustle, intimidate, jactitate, jar, jauntiness, jerk, jete, jettison, jig, jigget, jiggle, jog, joggle, jolt, jostle, jounce, jump, jump about, jump over, jump shot, jump turn, jump-hop, jump-off, junk, kick, kick back, kick downstairs, kick out, kick upstairs, kickback, lash back, lavolta, lay off, leap, leap over, leapfrog, let go, let out, levity, life, light heart, lightheartedness, lightness, lightsomeness, liveliness, local oscillator signal, long jump, lop, make redundant, morris, negotiate, obtrude, oust, out-herod Herod, output signal, overjump, overleap, overskip, peacockery, peacockishness, pension off, pep, perkiness, pertness, picture, pips, pole vault, pounce, pounce on, pounce upon, prance, put out, quake, quaver, quiver, radar signal, radio-frequency amplifier, radio-frequency signal, radio-frequency stage, rage, ramp, rant, rave, read out of, reading, rebound, rebuff, recalcitrate, recalcitration, recoil, reflected signal, reflection, reject, release, remove, repercuss, repercussion, replace, repulse, resile, resilience, resiliency, responsiveness, retire, return, return signal, ricochet, rictus, roister, rollick, romp, running broad jump, running high jump, sack, saut de basque, separate forcibly, shake, shiver, shock, shortwave signal, shudder, signal, signal display, ski jump, skip, slang, snap, snap back, splutter, spot, spring, spring back, springiness, sputter, start, start aside, start up, steeplechase, storm, stretch, stretchability, stretchiness, strip, strut, strutting, superannuate, surplus, suspend, swagger, swaggering, swank, swash, swashbuckle, swashbucklering, swashbucklery, swashbuckling, target image, terminate, throw away, throw out, throw overboard, thrust out, tic, tone, tonicity, tonus, toss out, tour jete, trace, transmitter signal, tremble, tremor, trip, turn off, turn out, twitch, twitter, unfrock, unidirectional signal, updive, upleap, upspring, vapor, vault, verve, vibrate, video signal, vitality, vivacity, wobble, yield, zest, zip