See Also: Breathing Tube (endotracheal tube)(health)
air tube(medicine)
tube(dictionary)
pus tube(medicine)
ET Tube(health)
T tube(medicine)
Tube(medicine)
inner tube(dictionary)
tube top(dictionary)
stomach tube(medicine)

tube (iou)



tube noun & verb. [tju:b] M17.
[French, or Latin tubus rel. to TUBA noun1.]
A. noun.
I. Artificial.
A hollow (usu. cylindrical) rigid or flexible body, long in proportion to its diameter, esp. one for holding or conveying a liquid or fluid. M17.
R. Boyle The Mercury in the Tube fell down lower, about three inches. H. Norman He kicked aside cardboard tubes holding maps.
b. Material in tubular form; tubing. E19.
c. ellipt. The inner tube of a bicycle tyre. E20.
An object or instrument in the form of or resembling a tube; spec. (a) arch. a telescope; (b) colloq. a telephone. M17.
drainage tube, extension tube, photomultiplier tube, pitot tube, pressure tube, stomach tube, etc. down the tube(s): see DOWN preposition.
b. A cigarette. slang. M20.
a. Formerly (poet.), a cannon. Now, (the barrel of) a rifle. M18.
b. A small pipe containing explosive, inserted through the priming-hole of a cannon. L18.
c. ellipt. A torpedo tube. L19.
A container in the form of or resembling a tube, as (a) a test-tube; (b) a soft metal or plastic cylinder sealed at one end and having a screw cap at the other, for holding a semi-liquid substance ready for use; (c) Austral. slang a bottle or can of beer. E19.
boob tube: see BOOB noun2.
C. Potok I..found him sorting tubes of oil colors. V. Glendinning Martha never put the top back on the toothpaste tube. R. Hill Mow my lawn and then cool off with a tube of lager.
b. A woman's close-fitting garment, freq. of simple design without darts or other tailoring; a tube dress, skirt, or top. M20.
Physics. A sealed container, evacuated or gas-filled, containing two or more electrodes between which an electric current can be made to flow; spec. (a) a cathode-ray tube; (b) (chiefly US) a thermionic valve. M19.
discharge tube, electron tube, vacuum tube, etc.
b. the tube, television; the television set. M20.
boob tube: see BOOB noun1.
attrib.: New Musical Express Ready-made TV for people who like their tube time mental.
A tube used for pneumatic dispatch. M19.
pneumatic tube: see PNEUMATIC adjective 1.
An underground tunnel or system of tunnels in which a railway runs; an underground railway system, esp. (freq. the Tube) (proprietary name for) the system in London; a train running on such a system. M19.
attrib.: tube line, tube station, tube train, etc.
Physics. A tubular figure conceived as being formed by lines of force or action passing through every point of a closed curve. L19.
tube of flow, tube of force, etc.
II. Natural.
Anatomy & Zoology. A hollow cylindrical vessel or organ in the body; a canal, a duct, a passage; spec. (in pl., colloq.) the Fallopian tubes. M17.
Eustachian tube, Fallopian tube, neural tube, etc.
b. The penis. slang. E20.
A hollow cylindrical structure in a plant; spec. (Botany) the lower united portion of a gamopetalous corolla (more fully corolla-tube) or gamosepalous calyx (more fully calyx-tube). Also, a united circle of stamens. E18.
pollen-tube, sieve tube, etc.
transf. Any of various tubular objects or formations of natural origin; spec. (Surfing) the hollow curve under the crest of a breaking wave. M19.
lava tube.
Comb.: tube curare: kept or transported in bamboo tubes; tube dress a close-fitting clinging dress usu. made of elasticized material; tube-dwelling adjective (of an animal, esp. a marine worm) living, usu. permanently, in a tube which it constructs or secretes; tube-feed a meal, or nourishment, taken by tube-feeding; tube-feeding the feeding of a person (sometimes forcibly) by passing nourishment through a tube into the stomach; tube-flower a Malayan plant of the verbena family, Clerodendrum indicum, in which the corolla is funnel-shaped with a very long tube; tube-foot Zoology each of the numerous small flexible cylindrical organs by which an echinoderm collects food and moves, operated by internal water pressure; tube-lift: for conveying passengers between street-level and an underground railway; tube-nosed adjective (Zoology) having tubular nostrils; tube shelter an underground tube station used as an air-raid shelter; tube skirt a tight close-fitting skirt, usu. made from a single piece of knitted or elasticized material; tube sock an elasticized sock with no shaping for the heel; tube steak US slang a hot dog, a frankfurter; tube top a women's close-fitting elasticated top reaching from the waist to underarm level; tube-well (a well consisting of) an iron pipe with a solid steel point and lateral perforations near the end, which is driven into the earth until a water-bearing stratum is reached, when a suction pump is applied to the upper end; tube-worm a tube-dwelling worm.
b. verb.
verb trans. Equip or fit with a tube or tubes. E19.
verb trans. Enclose in a tube. M19.
verb trans. (with it) & intrans. Travel by tube. colloq. E20.
T. Beattie Jean went to London every day, commuting..to Waterloo, and then tubing it to Bank.
verb trans. & intrans. Fail; perform poorly (in). US slang. M20.
tubed adjective having, equipped with, or resembling a tube or tubes, tubular E19.
tubeful noun as much as a tube will hold L19.
tubeless adjective M19.
tubelike adjective resembling (that of) a tube M19.