abubble

English

Etymology

a- (“in such a state or condition”) +‎ bubble[1]

Pronunciation

(Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /əˈbʌb.l̩/
(US) IPA^(key): /əˈbʌb.l̩/

Adjective

abubble (not comparable)

In a state of excitement, agitated activity, or motion. [First attested in the 19^th century.]
After they had sat down, the party remained abubble until the speaker rose.
- 1885, Alexander Stewart, ’Twixt Ben Nevis and Glencoe, Edinburgh: William Paterson, Chapter 46, p. 337,
  It was at times as if a score of tiny rainbows of the most brilliant hues were being rapidly interwoven, only to be instantly untwisted again, in order to be rewoven into a newer and still brighter pattern, in and over an acre of sea, all abubble and aboil with the gambols of the frolicsome shoal.
- 1913, Jack London, John Barleycorn, New York: Century, Chapter 7, p. 64,
  The men in stripes worked a shorter day than I at my machine. And there was vastly more romance in being an oyster pirate or a convict than in being a machine slave. And behind it all, behind all of me with youth a-bubble, whispered Romance, Adventure.
- 1944, Ernie Pyle, Brave Men, New York: Henry Holt, Chapter 30, p. 409,
  When we left the restaurant he was all abubble and said over and over again that he’d had the best time that evening he had ever had in the Army.
- 1979, William Styron, Sophie’s Choice, New York: Random House, Chapter 13, p. 381,
  Dr. Walter Dürrfeld […] a director of IG Farbenindustrie, that […] conglomerate—inconceivably huge even for its day—whose prestige and size are alone enough to set Professor Biegański’s mind abubble with giddy euphoria.
Bubbling.
The sour mash was abubble.
- 1869, William Alexander, “Specimen of a Translation of Virgil” in Afternoon Lectures on Literature and Art, Dublin: William McGee, p. 345,
  Part haste the boiling caldron all a-bubble,

Synonyms

(bubbling): bubblesome, bubbly, ebullient; see also Thesaurus:effervescent

Adverb

abubble (not comparable)

Bubbling over with excitement. [First attested in the mid 20^th century.][1]

Related terms

bubbly
in a bubble

References

Lesley Brown, editor-in-chief; William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, editors (2002), “abubble”, in The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles, 5th edition, Oxford; New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 10.

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[SOED-1] Lesley Brown, editor-in-chief; William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, editors (2002), “abubble”, in The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles, 5th edition, Oxford; New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 10.