bulb

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

• enPR: bŭlb, IPA^(key): /bʌlb/

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• Rhymes: -ʌlb

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.

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.

• blub

From Latin bulbus.

• (Balearic, Central, Valencian) IPA^(key): /ˈbulp/

bulb m (plural bulbs)

1. (botany) bulb (bulb-shaped root of a plant)

• bulbós

• “bulb” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.