# tube

Pronunciation: US say "TOOB" /tub/; UK/AUS say "TYOOB" /tjuːb/

## Noun

1. Any hollow object or structure with a cylindrical shape.
   - Simple: Anything with a long, round shape that is empty inside.
   - _Water drained from the tank through a narrow rubber tube._
   - _Glass tubes of different lengths lined the shelves of the lab._
2. A roughly cylindrical container, usually crimped shut at one end and closed with a screw cap, used to hold and dispense semiliquid substances.
   - Simple: A long, round container, usually with a screw cap, for keeping and squeezing out soft things like toothpaste.
   - _He squeezed the last of the paint from the tube onto his palette._
   - _The pharmacist handed her two tubes of antibiotic ointment._
3. A television set. *(colloquial, Canada, US)*
   - Simple: A TV, or television set.
   - _After work he likes to sit back and watch the tube for an hour._
   - _Millions of viewers were glued to the tube for the final episode._
4. The London Underground railway system, often called the Tube; the name first meant only its deep-level lines, which run in round tunnels, not the shallower lines in rectangular ones. *(colloquial, British)*
   - Simple: London's underground train system. At first the name meant only the deeper lines, which run in round tunnels.
   - _It's quicker to take the Tube to King's Cross than to get a taxi in the rush hour._
   - _The nearest Tube station is a five-minute walk from the hotel._
6. In surfing, a wave that pitches forward as it breaks, leaving a hollow space inside it.
   - Simple: A wave that curls forward as it breaks and makes a hollow space inside.
   - _She crouched low and stayed deep inside the tube until the wave spat her out._
   - _The reef break throws fast, hollow tubes when the swell comes from the south._
9. A can of beer. *(slang, Australia)*
   - Simple: A metal can with beer in it.
   - _He reached into the esky and cracked a tube._
   - _They knocked back a few tubes on the back deck while the footy was on._
10. A foolish or stupid person; an idiot. *(dialectal, Scotland)*
   - Simple: A silly or stupid person.
   - _Don't be such a tube. The bus stop's right behind you._
   - _Some tube from the office reversed his car into our gate._

## Verb

5. To ride on an inflated inner tube, especially while floating down a river.
   - Simple: To ride on a big rubber ring filled with air, often down a river.
   - _On hot weekends, students tube down the river with coolers tied between them._
   - _She had never tubed before and spent most of the trip spinning in slow circles._
7. To provide something with a tube, or to enclose something in one.
   - Simple: To give something a tube, or to put something inside a tube.
   - _Machines tube the paint and crimp the ends shut in a single pass._
   - _The crew tubed every seedling in plastic mesh to keep deer away._
8. To intubate a patient, inserting a tube into a body passage such as the windpipe. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: To put a medical tube into a part of a patient's body, such as the throat.
   - _If his oxygen keeps dropping, we'll need to tube him._
   - _The ER team tubed the crash victim within minutes of arrival._

## Noun

11. One of the cylindrical tunnels through which London Underground trains run. *(obsolete, British)*
   - Simple: One of the round tunnels that London's underground trains run through.
   - _The new line ran in two parallel tubes, one for each direction of travel._
   - _Warm, stale air hung in the tube long after the last train had gone through._

## Origin

From Middle French tube, from Latin tubus ("tube, pipe"), which is related to tuba ("long trumpet; war trumpet"). Its deeper origin is obscure, but it is possibly connected to Latin tībia ("shinbone, reed pipe").

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/tube (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).