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Tube

//tuːb// name, noun, verb, slang

Definitions

Proper Noun
  1. 1
    The London Underground. informal

    "But 'Tube' is used as shorthand for the whole network, not least by London Underground itself, [...] It tends to be older people who hold on to the distinction. A friend of mine was visiting his mother who lives about 500 yards from Parsons Green station on the District, which is a cut-and-cover line [not a tube line]. At the end of the evening she said, "How are you getting back?" He said, "Oh, on the Tube", and she looked at him absolutely blankly. "What Tube?" she said, "There is no Tube here.""

Noun
  1. 1
    Anything that is hollow and cylindrical in shape.

    "But then I had the [massive] flintlock by me for protection. ¶[…]The linen-press and a chest on the top of it formed, however, a very good gun-carriage; and, thus mounted, aim could be taken out of the window […], and a 'bead' could be drawn upon Molly, the dairymaid, kissing the fogger behind the hedge, little dreaming that the deadly tube was levelled at them."

  2. 2
    an electric railway operating below the surface of the ground (usually in a city) wordnet
  3. 3
    An approximately cylindrical container, usually with a crimped end and a screw top, used to contain and dispense semiliquid substances.

    "A tube of toothpaste."

  4. 4
    conduit consisting of a long hollow object (usually cylindrical) used to hold and conduct objects or liquids or gases wordnet
  5. 5
    The London Underground railway system, originally referred to the lower level lines that ran in tubular tunnels as opposed to the higher ones which ran in rectangular section tunnels. (Often the tube.) British, capitalized, colloquial, often

    "I took the tube to Waterloo and walked the rest of the way."

Show 8 more definitions
  1. 6
    electronic device consisting of a system of electrodes arranged in an evacuated glass or metal envelope wordnet
  2. 7
    The London Underground railway system, originally referred to the lower level lines that ran in tubular tunnels as opposed to the higher ones which ran in rectangular section tunnels. (Often the tube.); One of the tubular tunnels of the London Underground. British, capitalized, colloquial, obsolete, often

    "And thus it came about that on that October morning I found myself in the deep level tube with the Professor speeding to the North of London in what proved to be one of the most singular experiences of my remarkable life."

  3. 8
    (anatomy) any hollow cylindrical body structure wordnet
  4. 9
    A tin can containing beer. Australia, slang

    "It's alright to cop a warm tube of Fosters and a cold pie 'n' peas when you're dated by one of the locals[.]"

  5. 10
    a hollow cylindrical shape wordnet
  6. 11
    A wave which pitches forward when breaking, creating a hollow space inside.

    "It seemed like Butch was invincible, like he could do nothing wrong, coming through one unbelievable tube after another."

  7. 12
    A television. Compare cathode ray tube and picture tube. Canada, US, colloquial

    "Right now, there is a whole, an entire generation that never knew anything that didn't come out of this tube. This tube is the gospel, the ultimate revelation; this tube can make or break presidents, popes, prime ministers; this tube is the most awesome goddamn propaganda force in the whole godless world, […]"

  8. 13
    An idiot. Scotland, slang

    "'Don't be a bloody tube, Jack,' she told me. (I always loved it when she used Scottish terms of abuse in that English accent of hers.)"

Verb
  1. 1
    To supply with, or enclose in, a tube. transitive

    "She tubes lipstick in the cosmetics factory."

  2. 2
    place or enclose in a tube wordnet
  3. 3
    To ride an inner tube. transitive

    "They tubed down the Colorado River."

  4. 4
    ride or float on an inflated tube wordnet
  5. 5
    To intubate. colloquial, transitive

    "The patient was tubed."

Show 2 more definitions
  1. 6
    convey in a tube wordnet
  2. 7
    provide with a tube or insert a tube into wordnet

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle French tube, from Latin tubus (“tube, pipe”), related to tuba (“long trumpet; war-trumpet”), of obscure ultimate origin, but possibly connected to tībia (“shinbone, reed-pipe”); see there. Doublet of tubus.

Etymology 2

From Middle French tube, from Latin tubus (“tube, pipe”), related to tuba (“long trumpet; war-trumpet”), of obscure ultimate origin, but possibly connected to tībia (“shinbone, reed-pipe”); see there. Doublet of tubus.

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