bounce

verb

1. (intransitive)To change the direction of motion after hitting an obstacle.

   “The tennis ball bounced off the wall before coming to rest in the ditch.”

2. (intransitive)To move quickly up and then down (or vice versa), once or repeatedly.

   “He bounces nervously on his chair.”

   “The Black Cats contributed to their own downfall for the only goal when Titus Bramble, making his first appearance since Boxing Day, and Michael Turner, let Phil Jones' cross bounce across the six-yard box as Rooney tucked in at the back post.”

3. (transitive)To cause to move quickly up and down, or back and forth, once or repeatedly.

   “He bounced the child on his knee.”

   “The children were bouncing a ball against a wall.”

4. (colloquial, transitive)To suggest or introduce (an idea, etc.) to (off or by) someone, in order to gain feedback.

   “I'm meeting Bob later to bounce some ideas off him about the new product range.”

5. (intransitive)To leap or spring suddenly or unceremoniously; to bound.

   “She bounced happily into the room.”

   “Out bounced the mastiff.”

6. To move rapidly (between).

   ““The Queen’s Justice” had some fantastic moments of wit and heart but the structure and pacing didn’t do it any favors. The first section of the episode mostly bounced between Jon Snow’s arrival at Dragonstone and Cersei Lannister burning through her enemies and giving nary a fuck.”

7. (informal, intransitive)To be refused by a bank because it is drawn on insufficient funds.

   “We can’t accept further checks from you, as your last one bounced.”

8. (informal, transitive)To fail to cover (have sufficient funds for) (a cheque/check drawn on one's account).

   “He tends to bounce a check or two toward the end of each month, before his payday.”

9. (intransitive, slang)To leave.

   “Let’s wrap this up, I gotta bounce.”

   “I was definitely looking forward to getting me some more of Yasmere in the future, so I took a quick second to give her a last little bit of love before I bounced.”

   “All right, look, don't prang out. They had this paint-party-brunch thing. But I only stayed for 45 minutes, painted a tiny bit of a door, ate half an almond croissant and bounced.”

10. (US, dated, slang, transitive)To eject violently, as from a room; to discharge unceremoniously, as from employment.

    “Nobody took umbrage and bounced me out of the Union for being a pro.”

    “Anyone who gets bounced out of [this bar] is not just pushed onto the street — he is walked home, or put in a cab.”

11. (intransitive, slang, sometimes)To have sexual intercourse.
12. (transitive)To attack unexpectedly.

    “The squadron was bounced north of the town.”

13. (transitive)To turn power to (a device) off and back on; to reset; to reboot.

    “See if it helps to bounce the router.”

14. (Internet, ergative)To return undelivered.

    “What’s your new email address? The old one bounces.”

    “The girl in the bar told me her address was thirsty@example.com, but my mail to that address was bounced back by the server.”

15. (intransitive)To land hard and lift off again due to excess momentum.

    “The student pilot bounced several times during his landing.”

16. (intransitive)To land hard at unsurvivable velocity with fatal results.

    “After the mid-air collision, his rig failed and he bounced.”

17. (transitive)To mix (two or more tracks of a multi-track audio recording) and record the result onto a single track, in order to free up tracks for further material to be added.

    “Bounce tracks two and three to track four, then record the cowbell on track two.”

18. To render two or more tracks to computer storage so that they can be played back and re-recorded with further material added.

    “bouncing stems”

19. (archaic, slang)To bully; to scold.

    “Would I had him here again, I would so bounce him, I would so thank his lordship for his lewd plot.”

20. (archaic, slang)To boast; to bluster.
21. (archaic)To strike or thump, so as to make a sudden noise upon rebound; to knock loudly.

    “Another bounces as hard as he can knock.”

22. (slang)To race poorly after a successful race.

noun

1. (countable, uncountable)A change of direction of motion after hitting the ground or an obstacle.

   “Krohn-Dehli took advantage of a lucky bounce of the ball after a battling run on the left flank by Simon Poulsen, dummied two defenders and shot low through goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg's legs after 24 minutes.”

2. (countable, uncountable)A movement up and then down (or vice versa), once or repeatedly.
3. (Internet, countable, uncountable)An email that returns to the sender because of a delivery failure.
4. (countable, uncountable)A hypothetical event where a collapsing system, such as a universe in the Big Bounce theory, reaches a point of extreme density and then rebounds back into an expanding phase, essentially reversing the contraction due to quantum mechanical effects.
5. (countable, slang, uncountable)The sack, dismissal.

   “Someone more clever than I said, "It's not the bounce that counts, it's the bounce back. "”

   “Customers said I was a hoot; management gave me the bounce.”

6. (archaic, countable, uncountable)A bang, boom.

   “I don't value her resentment the bounce of a cracker.”

7. (archaic, countable, uncountable)A drink based on brandy.ᵂ

   “A prologue of cherry bounce,—brandy,—preceded the entertainment, which was enlivened by hob-nobs and joyous toasts.”

   “He had one hand on the bounce bottle—and he'd never let go of that since he got back to the table—but he had a handkerchief in the other and was swabbing his deadlights with it.”

8. (archaic, countable, uncountable)A heavy, sudden, and often noisy, blow or thump.

   “The bounce burst ope the door.”

9. (archaic, countable, uncountable)Bluster; brag; untruthful boasting; audacious exaggeration; an impudent lie; a bouncer.

   “And, in fact, the whole story is a bounce of his own. For, in a most abusive letter which he wrote “to a learned person,” (meaning Wallis the mathematician,) he gives quite another account of the matter”

10. (countable, uncountable)Scyliorhinus canicula, a European dogfish.
11. (uncountable)A genre of hip-hop music of New Orleans, characterized by often lewd call-and-response chants.
12. (slang, uncountable)Drugs.
13. (slang, uncountable)Swagger.
14. (slang, uncountable)A good beat in music.
15. (slang, uncountable)A talent for leaping.

    “Them pro-ballers got bounce!”

16. (countable, informal, uncountable)An increase in popularity.
17. (countable, uncountable)An obstacle for a horse to jump over, consisting of two fences close together so that the horse cannot take a full stride between them, nor jump both at once.
18. (countable, slang, uncountable)The situation where a horse races poorly after a successful race.