bounce

Universal Words verb, noun verb move off surface 1 if sth bounces or you bounce it, it moves quickly away from a surface it has just hit or you make it do this: [V] The ball bounced twice before he could reach it. * Short sound waves bounce off even small objects. * The light bounced off the river and dazzled her. * [VN] She bounced the ball against the wall. move up and down noun 2 [V] (of a person) to jump up and down on sth: She bounced up and down excitedly on the bed. 3 [VN] to move a child up and down while he or she is sitting on your knee in order to entertain him or her 4 to move up and down; to move sth up and down: [V] Her hair bounced from side to side as she walked. [also VN] 5 [V+adv./prep.] to move up and down in a particular direction: The bus bounced down the hill. move with energy 6 [V+adv./prep.] (of a person) to move somewhere in a lively and cheerful way: He bounced across the room to greet them. cheque 7 [V, VN] (informal) if a cheque bounces, or a bank bounces it, the bank refuses to accept it because there is not enough money in the account ideas 8 [VN] ~ ideas (off sb) / (around) to tell sb your ideas in order to find out what they think about them: He bounced ideas off colleagues everywhere he went. computing 9 [V, VN] ~ (sth) (back) if an e-mail bounces or the system bounces it, it returns to the person who sent it because the system cannot deliver it PHRASALVERBS bounce back to become healthy, successful or confident again after being ill/sick or having difficulties SYNRECOVER: He's had a lot of problems, but he always seems to bounce back pretty quickly. bounce sb into sth (BrE) to make sb do sth without giving them enough time to think about it noun movement 1 [C] the action of bouncing: one bounce of the ball * (AmE) a bounce (= increase) in popularity 2 [U] the ability to bounce or to make sth bounce: There's not much bounce left in these balls. * Players complained about the uneven bounce of the tennis court. energy 3 [U,C] the energy that a person has: All her old bounce was back. * There was a bounce to his step which I hadn't seen before. of hair 4 [U] the quality in a person's hair that shows that it is in good condition and means that it does not lie flat: thin fine hair, lacking in bounce