Dictionary
bounce
Pronunciation: (bouns), [key]
—v., bounced, bounc•ing,
—n., adv.
—
v.i.
1. to spring back from a surface in a lively manner:
The ball bounced off the wall.
2. to strike the ground or other surface, and rebound:
The ball bounced once before he caught it.
3. to move or walk in a lively, exuberant, or energetic manner:
She bounced into the room.
4. to move along in a lively manner, repeatedly striking the surface below and rebounding:
The box bounced down the stairs.
5. to move about or enter or leave noisily or angrily (fol. by
around, about, out, out of, into, etc.):
He bounced out of the room in a huff.
6. (of a check or the like) to fail to be honored by the bank against which it was drawn, due to lack of sufficient funds.
—
v.t.
1. to cause to bound and rebound:
to bounce a ball; to bounce a child on one's knee; to bounce a signal off a satellite.
2. to refuse payment on (a check) because of insufficient funds:
The bank bounced my rent check.
3. to give (a bad check) as payment:
That's the first time anyone bounced a check on me.
4. Slang.to eject, expel, or dismiss summarily or forcibly.
5. bounce back,to recover quickly:
After losing the first game of the double-header, the team bounced back to win the second.
—
n.
1. a bound or rebound:
to catch a ball on the first bounce.
2. a sudden spring or leap:
In one bounce he was at the door.
3. ability to rebound; resilience:
This tennis ball has no more bounce.
4. vitality; energy; liveliness:
There is bounce in his step. This soda water has more bounce to it.
5. the fluctuation in magnitude of target echoes on a radarscope.
6. Slang.a dismissal, rejection, or expulsion:
He's gotten the bounce from three different jobs.
—
adv.
with a bounce; suddenly.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.
