bounce
Forms
- present (v1)
- bounce
- past (v2)
- bounced
- past participle (v3)
- bounced
- present participle
- bouncing
- 3rd person singular
- bounces
- Plural
- bounces
Definitions
1.To change the direction of motion after hitting an obstacle.
- The tennis ball bounced off the wall before coming to rest in the ditch.
2.To move quickly up and then down (or vice versa), once or repeatedly.
- He bounces nervously on his chair.
3.To cause to move quickly up and down, or back and forth, once or repeatedly.
- He bounced the child on his knee.
- The children were bouncing a ball against a wall.
4.To suggest or introduce (an idea, etc.) to (off or by) someone, in order to gain feedback.(colloquial)
- I'm meeting Bob later to bounce some ideas off him about the new product range.
1.A change of direction of motion after hitting the ground or an obstacle.
- Krohn-Dehli took advantage of a lucky bounce of the ball after a battling run on the left flank by Simon Poulsen, dummied two defenders and shot low through goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg's legs after 24 minutes.
2.A movement up and then down (or vice versa), once or repeatedly.
3.An email that returns to the sender because of a delivery failure.
4.A hypothetical event where a collapsing system, such as a universe in the Big Bounce theory, reaches a point of extreme density and then rebounds back into an expanding phase, essentially reversing the contraction due to quantum mechanical effects.
Frequency
Overall
Rare· #4193
By learning goal
- Everyday conversation
- Rare
- General reading & writing
- Rare
- Academic
- Rare
- Literature
- Rare
Related words
Synonyms
Etymology
From Middle English bounsen, bunsen (“to beat, thump”), cognate with Scots bunce, bonce (“to bounce”). Of uncertain origin. Perhaps imitative, related to bump, or related to Middle English bonchen (“to pound, beat”) and Dutch bonken (“to bump”).