Bubble | Webster's Dictionary (1865)

Bŭb’ble, n.

noun

n. [D. bobbel, Dan. boble, buble, Sw. bubbla. Cf. BULLA.]

Sense 1. A small bladder or vesicle of water or other fluid inflated with air.

And when one bubble runs foul of another, the weaker needs must burst. Coleridge.

Sense 2. Any thing that wants firmness or solidity; a vain project; that which is more specious than real; a false show; a cheat or fraud; a delusive scheme; an empty project; a dishonest speculation; as, the South-Sea bubble.

Then a soldier, Seeking the bubble reputation Even in the cannon’s mouth. Shak.

Sense 3. A person deceived by an empty project; a gull. [Obs.] Prior.

Bŭb'ble, v. i.

verbintransitive

v. i. [imp. & p. p. BUBBLED; p. pr. & vb. n. BUBBLING.] [D. bobbelen, Dan. boble, buble, Ger. bubbelen, poppeln.]

To rise in bubbles, as liquors when boiling or agitated.
To run with a gurgling noise; as, a bubbling stream. Pope.
To make a bubbling or gurgling sound. [Rare.]

At mine ears Bubbled the nightingale. Tennyson.

Bŭb'ble, v. t.

verbtransitive

To cheat; to deceive, or impose on. The great Locke, who was seldom outwitted by false sounds, was certainly bubbled here. Sterne.