/ baʊns; NAmE / verb , noun
■ verb
MOVE OFF SURFACE
1.
if sth bounces or you bounce it, it moves quickly away from a surface it has just hit or you make it do this :
[ v ]
The ball bounced twice before he could reach it.
Short sound waves bounce off even small objects.
The light bounced off the river and dazzled her.
[ vn ]
She bounced the ball against the wall.
MOVE UP AND DOWN noun
2.
[ v ] ( of a person ) to jump up and down on sth :
She bounced up and down excitedly on the bed.
3.
[ vn ] to move a child up and down while he or she is sitting on your knee in order to entertain him or her
4.
to move up and down; to move sth up and down :
[ v ]
Her hair bounced as she walked.
[also vn ]
5.
[ v + adv. / prep. ] to move up and down in a particular direction :
The bus bounced down the hill.
MOVE WITH ENERGY
6.
[ v + adv. / prep. ] ( of a person ) to move somewhere in a lively and cheerful way :
He bounced across the room to greet them.
CHEQUE
7.
[ v , vn ] ( informal ) if a cheque bounces , or a bank bounces it, the bank refuses to accept it because there is not enough money in the account
IDEAS
8.
[ vn ] bounce ideas (off sb) / (around) to tell sb your ideas in order to find out what they think about them :
He bounced ideas off colleagues everywhere he went.
COMPUTING
9.
[ v , vn ] bounce (sth) (back) if an email bounces or the system bounces it, it returns to the person who sent it because the system cannot deliver it
MAKE SB LEAVE
10.
[ vn ] ( informal , especially NAmE ) bounce sb (from sth) to force sb to leave a job, team, place, etc. :
He was soon bounced from the post.
•
IDIOMS
- be bouncing off the walls
•
PHRASAL VERBS
- bounce back
- bounce sb into sth
■ noun
MOVEMENT
1.
[ C ] the action of bouncing :
one bounce of the ball
( NAmE )
a bounce (= increase) in popularity
2.
[ U ] the ability to bounce or to make sth bounce :
There's not much bounce left in these balls.
Players complained about the uneven bounce of the tennis court.
ENERGY
3.
[ U , C ] the energy that a person has :
All her old bounce was back.
There was a bounce to his step.
OF HAIR
4.
[ U ] the quality in a person's hair that shows that it is in good condition and means that it does not lie flat :
thin fine hair, lacking in bounce
•
IDIOMS
- on the bounce
••
WORD ORIGIN
Middle English bunsen beat, thump , perhaps imitative, or from Low German bunsen beat, Dutch bons a thump.