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# bulb

«bulb» in Mova's school dictionary: **the glass part of a lamp that gives out light when…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

noun (a bulb, bulbs)

### meaning for a pupil

1) A bulb (light bulb) is the glass part of a lamp that gives out light when electricity flows through it. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/bulb/#m1)

2) A bulb is the round underground part of some plants, like tulips, onions and daffodils, from which a new plant grows. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/bulb/#m2)

3) A bulb is any round, swollen part, like the bulb of a thermometer. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/bulb/#m3)

### sense in the lessons

In science, a bulb is a component in an electric circuit: it lights only when the circuit is complete; more batteries make it brighter, more bulbs in a line make each dimmer. In nature lessons, bulbs are planted in autumn and flower in spring; they store food for the plant. Phrases: light bulb, energy-saving bulb, LED bulb, a light-bulb moment (a sudden good idea), plant bulbs.

### examples

- The bulb lit up when we closed the switch. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/bulb/#x1)
- Dad changed the bulb in the kitchen. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/bulb/#x2)
- We planted tulip bulbs in the autumn. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/bulb/#x3)
- An onion is a bulb. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/bulb/#x4)
- The red liquid rose from the bulb of the thermometer. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/bulb/#x5)
- I had a light-bulb moment and solved the puzzle. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/bulb/#x6)
- The drops penetrated through the snowy covering down into the earth, and touched the flower-bulb, and talked of the bright world above. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/bulb/#x7)

### note

Countable: one bulb, two bulbs. Never touch a bulb that has just been on; it can be very hot. Let an adult change bulbs, with the power off. In a circuit diagram a bulb is drawn as a circle with a cross inside.

### In the corpora

- [An onion is a bulb whose layers are swollen leaves storing food for next year's growth.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/57-roots-stems-and-leaves/13/)
- [Daffodil bulbs are poisonous and have made people sick when mixed up with onions, so bulbs and onions should be kept apart.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/392-poisonous-plants-to-stay-away-from-berries-foxglove-yew-and-nightshade/15/)
- ["Not the brightest bulb" (US) means not very clever.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/35-mistakes-and-stupidity/12/)
- [Light bulbs get hot, so lamps and nightlights are kept away from curtains and other fabric.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/119-bedroom-living-room-and-manners/4/)
- [Modern LED bulbs waste much less energy as heat than old bulbs with a glowing wire.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/physics/27-batteries-circuits-and-how-electricity-flows/11/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «bulb» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/bulb/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.