bulb

American  

[buhlb] / bʌlb /

noun

1. Botany.

   1. a usually subterranean and often globular bud having fleshy leaves emergent at the top and a stem reduced to a flat disk, rooting from the underside, as in the onion and lily.

   2. a plant growing from such a bud.

2. any round, enlarged part, especially at the end of a cylindrical object.

   the bulb of a thermometer.

3. Electricity.

   1. the glass housing, in which a partial vacuum has been established, that contains the filament of an incandescent electric lamp.

   2. an incandescent or fluorescent electric lamp.

4. Anatomy. any of various small, bulb-shaped structures or protuberances.

   olfactory bulb; bulb of urethra.

5. medulla oblongata.

6. Building Trades. a rounded thickening at the toe of an angle iron or tee.

7. Nautical. a cylindrical or spherical prominence at the forefoot of certain vessels.

8. Photography. a shutter setting in which the shutter remains open as long as the shutter release is depressed. B

---

bulb British  

/ bʌlb /

noun

1. a rounded organ of vegetative reproduction in plants such as the tulip and onion: a flattened stem bearing a central shoot surrounded by fleshy nutritive inner leaves and thin brown outer leaves Compare corm

2. a plant, such as a hyacinth or daffodil, that grows from a bulb

3. See light bulb

4. a rounded part of an instrument such as a syringe or thermometer

5. anatomy a rounded expansion of a cylindrical organ or part, such as the medulla oblongata

6. Also called: bulbous bow.  a bulbous protuberance at the forefoot of a ship to reduce turbulence

---

bulb Scientific  

/ bŭlb /

1. A rounded underground storage organ that contains the shoot of a new plant. A bulb consists of a short stem surrounded by fleshy scales (modified leaves) that store nourishment for the new plant. Tulips, lilies, and onions grow from bulbs.

2. Compare corm rhizome runner tuber

---

Other Word Forms

• bulbed adjective
• bulbless adjective

Etymology

Origin of bulb

1560–70; < Latin bulbus < Greek bolbós onion, bulbous plant

Example Sentences

"The filters would be very good insulation, and someone had a light bulb moment and probably bought this as scrap off their manager," he said.

From BBC

From that light bulb moment, Recondition, which Brown said created every piece with accessibility and style in mind, was born.

From BBC

I dragged the cot out from the wall to stand under the naked overhead bulb.

From Literature

There was no sheet music, and if there had been, I wouldn’t have been able to see it because there were no bulbs in the piano lamp.

From Literature

Almost as soon as the headset is firmly on my head, a bulb lights up in front of me, my first call of the shift.

From Literature

Related Words

• corn