Adjacent Words

Bulb definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

BULB, n. [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, v.i. To bulb out is to project or be protuberant. [Little used.]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a modified bud consisting of a thickened globular underground stem serving as a reproductive structure
2: electric lamp consisting of a transparent or translucent glass housing containing a wire filament (usually tungsten) that emits light when heated by electricity [syn: light bulb, lightbulb, bulb, incandescent lamp, electric light, electric-light bulb]
3: a rounded part of a cylindrical instrument (usually at one end); "the bulb of a syringe"
4: anything with a round shape resembling a teardrop
5: lower or hindmost part of the brain; continuous with spinal cord; (`bulb' is an old term for medulla oblongata); "the medulla oblongata is the most vital part of the brain because it contains centers controlling breathing and heart functioning" [syn: medulla oblongata, medulla, bulb]
6: a rounded dilation or expansion in a canal or vessel or organ

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: Middle English, from Latin bulbus, from Greek bolbos bulbous plant Date: 15th century 1. a. a resting stage of a plant (as the lily, onion, hyacinth, or tulip) that is usually formed underground and consists of a short stem base bearing one or more buds enclosed in overlapping membranous or fleshy leaves b. a fleshy structure (as a tuber or corm) resembling a bulb in appearance c. a plant having or developing from a bulb 2. a bulb-shaped part; specifically a glass envelope enclosing the light source of an electric lamp or such an envelope together with the light source it encloses 3. a rounded or swollen anatomical structure 4. a camera setting that indicates that the shutter can be opened by pressing on the release and closed by ending the pressure • bulbed adjective

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 a an underground fleshy-leaved storage organ of some plants (e.g. lily, onion) sending roots downwards and leaves upwards. b a plant grown from this, e.g. a daffodil. 2 = light-bulb (see LIGHT(1)). 3 any object or part shaped like a bulb. Etymology: L bulbus f. Gk bolbos onion

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Bulb Bulb, v. i. To take the shape of a bulb; to swell.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Bulb 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, 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.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(bulbs) 1. A bulb is the glass part of an electric lamp, which gives out light when electricity passes through it. The stairwell was lit by a single bulb. = light bulb N-COUNT 2. A bulb is a root shaped like an onion that grows into a flower or plant. ...tulip bulbs. N-COUNT

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. 1. (Bot.) Scaly bud (like those of the onion and the tulip). 2. Protuberance.

Moby Thesaurus

ball, balloon, bilge, bladder, blain, bleb, blister, blob, boll, bolus, boss, bow, bubble, bulbil, bulblet, bulge, bulla, bump, bunch, burl, button, cahot, chine, clump, condyle, convex, corm, dowel, ear, ellipsoid, flange, flap, gall, geoid, globe, globelet, globoid, globule, glomerulus, gnarl, gob, gobbet, handle, hill, hump, hunch, jog, joggle, knob, knot, knur, knurl, lip, loop, lump, mole, mountain, nevus, nub, nubbin, nubble, oblate spheroid, orb, orbit, orblet, papilloma, peg, pellet, prolate spheroid, radicle, radix, rhizome, rib, ridge, ring, rondure, root, rootstock, shoulder, sphere, spheroid, spherule, spine, stud, style, tab, tap, taproot, tuber, tubercle, tubercule, verruca, vesicle, wale, wart, welt