different between bulb vs bulbiform

English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• enPR: b?lb, IPA^(key): /b?lb/
• Rhymes: -?lb

Noun

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.
4. (nautical) a bulbous protuberance at the forefoot of certain vessels to reduce turbulence.
5. (dated, neuroanatomy) The medulla oblongata.

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Verb

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.

Anagrams

• blub

Catalan

Etymology

From Latin bulbus.

Pronunciation

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

Noun

bulb m (plural bulbs)

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

Related terms

• bulbós

Further reading

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

Romanian

Etymology

From French bulbe

Noun

bulb m (plural bulbi)

1. bulb

Declension

English

Etymology

From Latin bulbus (“bulb”) +? -form

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?b?lb?f??m/

Adjective

bulbiform (comparative more bulbiform, superlative most bulbiform)

1. Shaped like a bulb.
   • 2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, Vintage 2007, p. 245:

     Though there was to be no encounter with the Bol'shaia Igra that day, the shadow of the bulbiform envelope, and the menacing twinkle of gunmetal beneath it, nonetheless would persist well into the later moments of ground-recreation.

Romanian

Etymology

From French bulbiforme

Adjective

bulbiform m or n (feminine singular bulbiform?, masculine plural bulbiformi, feminine and neuter plural bulbiforme)

1. bulbiform

Declension