A tube is a long hollow object that is usually round, like a pipe.
He is fed by a tube that enters his nose.
...a cardboard tube.
2. countable noun
A tubeof something such as paste is a long, thin container which you squeeze in order to force the paste out.
...a tube of toothpaste. [+ of]
...a small tube of moisturizer. [+ of]
3. countable noun
Some long, thin, hollow parts in your body are referred to as tubes.
The lungs are in fact constructed of thousands of tiny tubes.
4. singular noun [oft byNOUN]
The tube is the underground railway system in London.
[British]
I took the tube then the train and came straight here.
He travelled by tube.
5. countable noun
You can refer to the television as the tube.
[US, informal]
The only baseball he saw was on the tube.
regional note: in BRIT, use the box
6.
See go down the tube(s)
7. See also bronchial tube, cathode-ray tube, fallopian tube, inner tube, test tube
tube in British English
(tjuːb)
noun
1.
a long hollow and typically cylindrical object, used for the passage of fluids or as a container
2.
a collapsible cylindrical container of soft metal or plastic closed with a cap, used to hold viscous liquids or pastes
3. anatomy
a. short for Eustachian tube, Fallopian tube
b.
any hollow cylindrical structure
4. botany
a.
the lower part of a gamopetalous corolla or gamosepalous calyx, below the lobes
b.
any other hollow structure in a plant
5. the tube
6. electronics
a. another name for valve (sense 3)
b. electron tube, cathode-ray tube, television tube
7. the tube
8. British derogatory, slang
a foolish or despicable person
9. Australian slang
a bottle or can of beer
10. surfing
the cylindrical passage formed when a wave breaks and the crest tips forward
11. an archaic word for telescope
verb(transitive)
12.
to fit or supply with a tube or tubes
13.
to carry or convey in a tube
14.
to shape like a tube
Derived forms
tubeless (ˈtubeless)
adjective
tube-like (ˈtube-like)
adjective
Word origin
C17: from Latin tubus
tube in American English
(tub; tjub)
noun
1.
a.
a hollow cylinder or pipe of metal, glass, rubber, etc., usually long in proportion to its diameter, used for conveying fluids, etc.
b.
an instrument, part, organ, etc. resembling a tube
bronchial tubes, eustachian tubes
c.
a fallopian tube
usually used in pl.
2.
a rubber casing inflated with air and used, esp. formerly, with an outer casing to form an automotive tire
3.
a cylindrical container made of thin, pliable metal, plastic, etc., fitted at one end with a screw cap, and used for holding pastes or semiliquids, which can be squeezed out
4. US
a.
electron tube
b.
vacuum tube
5.
a.
a tubular tunnel for a railroad, subway, etc.
b. British
an underground electric railway; subway
6. Botany
the lower, united part of a gamopetalous corolla or a gamosepalous calyx
7. Electricity
the tubular space bounded by the lines of electric or magnetic force passing through every point on a closed curve on the outside of a charged body
: in full tube of flux or tube of force
verb transitiveWord forms: tubed or ˈtubing
8.
to provide with, place in, or pass through a tube or tubes
9.
to make tubular
Idioms:
down the tube
the tube
Derived forms
tubelike (ˈtubeˌlike)
adjective
Word origin
Fr < L tubus, a pipe
Examples of 'tube' in a sentence
tube
Blow up the inner tube again to check there are no more holes, then let the air out.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
Then I put each one into a little test tube, in a presentation box.
The Sun (2016)
These involve inserting tubes through the abdomen wall into the stomach.
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
The cardboard tube had been placed between two tins of paint stacked beside her bath.
The Sun (2006)
The device consists of a small balloon on a tube which fits into the nose.
The Sun (2009)
This packed metal tube became our home in the sky.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
Your gullet is a long muscular tube which helps transport food into your stomach.
The Sun (2016)
Ice cores are collected by drilling into ancient ice with a hollow tube.
Times, Sunday Times (2006)
Sample put in tube which goes into machine.
The Sun (2013)
Tube trains were empty and offices were running on a skeleton staff.
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
Why have some of my rose leaves rolled up into thin tubes?
Times, Sunday Times (2006)
To that list you can add spitting into test tubes.
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
We grew up in a day when car tires had inner tubes.
Christianity Today (2000)
She is also fed through a tube inserted into her stomach.
The Sun (2006)
It emits red light via two nasal tubes which you hold in place for three minutes up to four times a day.
The Sun (2011)
Three packs of Scotch pancakes and a tube of anchovy paste.
Times, Sunday Times (2011)
The areas around the bottle and the tube should be flat, so should the space near the back where the house will sit.
Times, Sunday Times (2008)
The 13-year-old spent many months of infancy in hospital, had breathing and swallowing difficulties and was tube fed.
Times, Sunday Times (2009)
The microscopic tubes that carry the sweat to your skin's surface get blocked so sweat leaks into the skin itself, causing intense irritation.
The Sun (2006)
In other languages
tube
British English: tube /tjuːb/ NOUN
long hollow object A tube is a long, round, hollow piece of metal, rubber, or plastic.
The liquid goes through the tube into the bottle.
American English: tube
Arabic: أُنْبُوب
Brazilian Portuguese: tubo
Chinese: 管子
Croatian: cijev
Czech: roura
Danish: rør
Dutch: buisje
European Spanish: tubo
Finnish: putki
French: tube
German: Rohr
Greek: σωλήνας
Italian: metropolitana
Japanese: 管
Korean: 관
Norwegian: rør
Polish: rura
European Portuguese: tubo
Romanian: țeavă
Russian: труба
Latin American Spanish: tubo
Swedish: tunelbana
Thai: ท่อ
Turkish: tüp
Ukrainian: трубка
Vietnamese: ống
British English: tube /tjuːb/ NOUN
container A tube is a soft metal or plastic container that you press to make what is in it come out.
He bought a tube of glue.
American English: tube
Arabic: أُنْبُوب
Brazilian Portuguese: tubo
Chinese: 管
Croatian: tuba
Czech: tubanádoba
Danish: tube
Dutch: tube
European Spanish: tubo
Finnish: putkilo
French: tubedentifrice
German: Tube
Greek: σωληνάριο
Italian: tubetto
Japanese: チューブ
Korean: 튜브
Norwegian: tube
Polish: tubka
European Portuguese: tubo
Romanian: tub
Russian: тюбик
Latin American Spanish: tubo
Swedish: tub
Thai: หลอด
Turkish: tüp
Ukrainian: тюбик
Vietnamese: ống
All related terms of 'tube'
blow tube
a tube for blowing air or oxygen into a flame to intensify its heat and direct it onto a small area
boob tube
The boob tube is the television.
germ tube
a tube produced by a germinating spore , such as the pollen tube produced by a pollen grain
test tube
A test tube is a small tube-shaped container made from glass. Test tubes are used in laboratories .
the tube
an underground railway system
tube fly
an artificial fly with the body tied on a hollow tube that can slide up the leader when a fish takes
tube foot
any of numerous tubular outgrowths of the body wall of most echinoderms that are used as organs of locomotion and respiration and to aid ingestion of food
tube pan
a deep, round pan with a hollow tube in the center , for baking cakes
tube-side
Tube-side processes are processes which happen in the tubes of a shell-and-tube heat exchanger .
tube sock
a stretchable sock in the form of a long tube with no shaped heel
tube top
A tube top is a piece of women's clothing that is made of stretchy material and covers her chest but leaves her shoulders bare .
acorn tube
a small vacuum tube shaped like an acorn
camera tube
the part of a television camera that converts an optical image into an electrical signal
draft tube
A draft tube is a tube which is used in spouted beds to control the circulation of particles.
drift tube
a hollow cylindrical electrode to which a radio-frequency voltage is applied in a linear accelerator
flash tube
a gaseous discharge tube designed to emit extremely short bursts of very intense light
image tube
a device for producing a visual image formed by other electromagnetic radiation such as infrared or ultraviolet radiation or X-rays
inner tube
An inner tube is a rubber tube containing air which is inside a car tyre or a bicycle tyre.
neural tube
the structure in mammalian embryos that develops into the brain and spinal cord . Incomplete development results in neural-tube defects , such as spina bifida, in a newborn baby
Nixie tube
a type of tube , for displaying information, having a common anode and several cathodes shaped in the form of characters , which can be lit by a glow discharge
Pitot tube
a small tube placed in a fluid with its open end upstream and the other end connected to a manometer . It measures the total pressure of the fluid
pollen tube
a hollow tubular outgrowth that develops from a pollen grain after pollination, grows down the style to the ovule , and conveys male gametes to the egg cell
shock tube
an apparatus in which a gas is heated to very high temperatures by means of a shock wave , usually for spectroscopic investigation of the natures and reactions of the resulting radicals and excited molecules
sieve tube
an element of phloem tissue consisting of a longitudinal row of thin-walled elongated cells with perforations in their connecting walls through which food materials pass
static tube
an open-ended tube used to measure the static pressure at a point in a moving fluid and positioned in such a way that it is unaffected by the fluid's motion
tube bundle
A tube bundle is a set of tubes in a shell-and-tube heat exchanger .
tube sheet
A tube sheet is a plate which is used to support the tubes in a shell-and-tube heat exchanger .
tube train
an underground train, esp in London
vacuum tube
an electron tube from which the air has been evacuated to the highest possible degree
Crookes tube
a type of cathode-ray tube in which the electrons are produced by a glow discharge in a low-pressure gas
drainage tube
a tube that drains fluid from an incision or body cavity during surgery
electron tube
an electrical device, such as a valve , in which a flow of electrons between electrodes takes place
Geissler tube
a glass or quartz vessel, usually having two bulbs containing electrodes separated by a capillary tube , for maintaining an electric discharge in a low-pressure gas as a source of visible or ultraviolet light for spectroscopy
mailing tube
a pasteboard cylinder in which printed matter or fragile objects are inserted for mailing
picture tube
a cathode-ray tube in a TV receiver , monitor , etc., that produces visual images on its screen
speaking tube
a tube or pipe for conveying a person's voice from one room , area, or building to another
storage tube
an electron tube in which information is stored as charges for a predetermined time
torpedo tube
the tube from which a torpedo is discharged from submarines or surface ships
tube station
an underground station where underground trains depart and leave, esp in London
Venturi tube
a device for measuring fluid flow , consisting of a tube so constricted that the pressure differential produced by fluid flowing through the constriction gives a measure of the rate of flow
X-ray tube
an evacuated tube containing a metal target onto which is directed a beam of electrons at high energy for the generation of X-rays
bronchial tube
Your bronchial tubes are the two tubes which connect your windpipe to your lungs .
capillary tube
a glass tube with a fine bore and thick walls , used in thermometers , etc
combustion tube
a tube of heat-resistant glass , silica , or ceramic , in which a substance can be reduced, as in a combustion furnace
discharge tube
an electrical device in which current flow is by electrons and ions in an ionized gas , as in a fluorescent light or neon tube
Eustachian tube
a tube that connects the middle ear with the nasopharynx and equalizes the pressure between the two sides of the eardrum
Fallopian tube
A woman's fallopian tubes are the two tubes in her body along which eggs pass from her ovaries to her womb .
television tube
a cathode-ray tube designed for the reproduction of television pictures
thermionic tube
an electron tube having a cathode electrically heated in order to cause electron or ion emission
venturi (tube)
a short tube with a constricted , throatlike passage that increases the velocity and lowers the pressure of a fluid conveyed through it: used to measure the flow of a fluid, to operate instruments, as in aircraft, to regulate the mixture in a carburetor, etc.