bounce

A change of direction of motion after hitting the ground or an obstacle.

Noun

  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. -...

    Synonyms: rebound

  2. A movement up and then down (or vice versa), once or repeatedly.

    Synonyms: bob bobbing bouncing

  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.
  5. The sack, dismissal.
    • Someone more clever than I said, "It's not the bounce that counts, it's the bounce back. " - 2007, Annabelle Gurwitch, Fired!: Tales of the Canned, Canceled, Downsized, and Dismissed, page 243:
    • Customers said I was a hoot; management gave me the bounce. - 2014, Lisa See, China Dolls:
    • I was no longer with the Oakhaven Hospital when I decided to come out here to the island; they'd fired me when they traced a long-distance call I'd made to San Francisco, under the director's name, to a man the papers...
  6. A bang, boom.
    • I don't value her resentment the bounce of a cracker. - 1773, Oliver Goldsmith, She Stoops to Conquer:
  7. A drink based on brandy, cherry bounce.
    • A prologue of cherry bounce,—brandy,—preceded the entertainment, which was enlivened by hob-nobs and joyous toasts. - 1870 May, “Irish Life”, in The Saint Pauls Magazine, volume VI, London: Strahan & Co., publishers,...
    • He had one hand on the bounce bottle—and he'd never let go of that since he got back to the table—but he had a handkerchief in the other and was swabbing his deadlights with it. - 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter...
  8. A heavy, sudden, and often noisy, blow or thump.
    • The bounce burst ope the door. - 1685, John Dryden, The Despairing Lover:
  9. Bluster; brag; untruthful boasting; audacious exaggeration; an impudent lie; a bouncer.
    • And, in fact, the whole story is a bounce of his own. For, in a most abusive letter which he wrote “to a learned person,” (meaning Wallis the mathematician,) he gives quite another account of the matter - 1827, Thomas...
  10. Scyliorhinus canicula, a European dogfish.

    Synonyms: houndfish morgay small-spotted catshark

  11. A genre of hip-hop music of New Orleans, characterized by often lewd call-and-response chants.
  12. Drugs.

    Synonyms: recreational drug drug dope gear horse stuff substance

Origin

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”). Compare Saterland Frisian bumzje (“to pound, bang, bounce”), West Frisian bûnzje (“to throb, bounce, pulsate”), Dutch bonzen (“to thump, knock, throb, bounce”), German Low German bunsen, bumsen (“to beat, bounce”), German bumsen (“to thud, bang, pound”).

Forms

bounces

Derived

air bounce antibounce Boris bounce bounce house bounceless bounce rate bouncy Brown bounce dead-cat bounce dead cat bounce eye bounce keybounce key bounce moonbounce moon bounce multibounce on the bounce postbounce superbounce

Verb

  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.

    Synonyms: bounce back rebound

  2. To move quickly up and then down (or vice versa), once or repeatedly.
    • He bounces nervously on his chair.
    • The Black Cats contributed to their own downfall for the only goal when Titus Bramble, making his first appearance since Boxing Day, and Michael Turner, let Phil Jones' cross bounce across the six-yard box as Rooney...

    Synonyms: bob

  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.
    • I'm meeting Bob later to bounce some ideas off him about the new product range.
  5. To leap or spring suddenly or unceremoniously; to bound.
    • She bounced happily into the room.
    • Out bounced the mastiff. - 1731, On Mr. Pulteney's Being Put Out of the Council, Jonathan Swift:
  6. To move rapidly (between).
    • “The Queen’s Justice” had some fantastic moments of wit and heart but the structure and pacing didn’t do it any favors. The first section of the episode mostly bounced between Jon Snow’s arrival at Dragonstone and...
  7. To be refused by a bank because it is drawn on insufficient funds.
    • We can’t accept further checks from you, as your last one bounced.
  8. To fail to cover (have sufficient funds for) (a cheque/check drawn on one's account).
    • He tends to bounce a check or two toward the end of each month, before his payday.
  9. To leave.
    • Let’s wrap this up, I gotta bounce.
    • I was definitely looking forward to getting me some more of Yasmere in the future, so I took a quick second to give her a last little bit of love before I bounced. - 2006, Noire [pseudonym], Thug-A-Licious: An Urban...
    • All right, look, don't prang out. They had this paint-party-brunch thing. But I only stayed for 45 minutes, painted a tiny bit of a door, ate half an almond croissant and bounced. - 2023, Nathan Bryon, Tom Melia,...
  10. To eject violently, as from a room; to discharge unceremoniously, as from employment.
    • Nobody took umbrage and bounced me out of the Union for being a pro. - 1946, Yachting, volume 80, page 46:
    • Anyone who gets bounced out of [this bar] is not just pushed onto the street — he is walked home, or put in a cab. - 1977 December 17, Tom Hurley, “The Evolution of Sporters”, in Gay Community News, volume 5, number 24,...
  11. To have sexual intercourse.

    Synonyms: bang do it have sex approach cohabit common company copulate couple engage in sex exchange flesh have intimate relations have marital relations have sexual relations intercourse know know someone in the biblical sense make love mate share a bed sleep together strain bauf beat

  12. To attack unexpectedly.
    • The squadron was bounced north of the town.

Forms

bounces bouncing bounced

Derived

bounceable bounce around bounceback bounce back bounced cheque bouncedown bounce in bounce into bounce off bounce off the walls bounce on it bouncer bounce rubble bounce the rubble bounce to the ounce bouncing bouncing Bet bouncing castle debounce jounce pec bounce rebounce