Word.ws English Dictionary

tube

/tuːb/

tube noun: anything that is hollow and cylindrical in shape. Also the abbreviation of speaking tube.

Noun

tube (plural tubes)

  1. Anything that is hollow and cylindrical in shape.
    • But then I had the [massive] flintlock by me for protection. ¶[…]The linen-press and a chest on the top of it formed, however, a very good gun-carriage; and, thus mounted, aim could be taken out of the window […], and a 'bead' could be drawn upon Molly, the dairymaid, kissing the fogger behind the...1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], chapter 1, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC
  2. An approximately cylindrical container, usually with a crimped end and a screw top, used to contain and dispense semiliquid substances.
    • A tube of toothpaste.
  3. (UK, capitalized, colloquial, often, a trademark) The London Underground railway system, originally referred to the lower level lines that ran in tubular tunnels as opposed to the higher ones which ran in rectangular section tunnels. (Often the tube.)
    • I took the tube to Waterloo and walked the rest of the way.
    • He took the tube to Westminster and disappeared.
    1. (UK, capitalized, colloquial, obsolete, often, a trademark) One of the tubular tunnels of the London Underground.
      • And thus it came about that on that October morning I found myself in the deep level tube with the Professor speeding to the North of London in what proved to be one of the most singular experiences of my remarkable life.1929, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Disintegration Machine
  4. (Australia, slang) A tin can containing beer.
    • It's alright to cop a warm tube of Fosters and a cold pie 'n' peas when you're dated by one of the locals[.]1967, The Kings Cross Whisper, number xlii., Sydney, page 7, column 4
    • Tinnie: a tin of beer — also called a tube.1995, Sue Butler, Lonely Planet Australian Phrasebook: Language Survival Kit
  5. A wave which pitches forward when breaking, creating a hollow space inside.
    • It seemed like Butch was invincible, like he could do nothing wrong, coming through one unbelievable tube after another.1966, Bruce Brown, director, The Endless Summer
  6. (Canada, US, colloquial) A television. Compare cathode ray tube and picture tube.
    • Right now, there is a whole, an entire generation that never knew anything that didn't come out of this tube. This tube is the gospel, the ultimate revelation; this tube can make or break presidents, popes, prime ministers; this tube is the most awesome goddamn propaganda force in the whole godless...1976, Paddy Chayefsky, Network, spoken by Howard Beale (Peter Finch)
    • I sit around and watch the tube, but nothing's on. I change the channels for an hour or two.1994, Billie Joe Armstrong, “Longview”, in Dookie, performed by Green Day
    Synonyms:
    boob tube, telly
  7. (Scotland, slang) An idiot.
    • 'Don't be a bloody tube, Jack,' she told me. (I always loved it when she used Scottish terms of abuse in that English accent of hers.)2007, Christopher Brookmyre, Attack of the Unsinkable Rubber Ducks, →ISBN, page 231
    • I'm a tube? Who got done for speeding? Who got lifted for bloody assault?2010, Karen Campbell, The Twilight Time, →ISBN

Verb

tube (third-person singular simple present tubes, present participle tubing, simple past and past participle tubed)

  1. (transitive) To supply with, or enclose in, a tube.
    • She tubes lipstick in the cosmetics factory.
  2. (transitive) To ride an inner tube.
    • They tubed down the Colorado River.
  3. (colloquial, transitive) To intubate.
    • The patient was tubed.

Proper noun capitalized: Tube

the Tube

  1. (informal) The London Underground.
    • But 'Tube' is used as shorthand for the whole network, not least by London Underground itself, [...] It tends to be older people who hold on to the distinction. A friend of mine was visiting his mother who lives about 500 yards from Parsons Green station on the District, which is a cut-and-cover...2012, Andrew Martin, Underground Overground: A passenger's history of the Tube, Profile Books, →ISBN, page unnumbered: A note on the title
    • Still, it’s not just the decline of civilisation that worries me, nor the (related) effect on Tube manners (Candy Crushers are rarely very chivalrous).2014 March 26, Richard Goodwin, “Candy Crush is the crystal meth of the commute”, in Evening Standard, page 17

Also used as

tube is also the abbreviation of speaking tube.

tube meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

tube in Hindi

ट्यूब, नली

tube in Tamil

குழாய், குழாயின்

tube in Marathi

नळी, ट्यूब, नळिका

tube in Urdu

ٹیوب
More languagesFewer languages
tube in Bengali
টিউব, নল, টিউবে
tube in Telugu
గొట్టము goṭṭamu, అండవాహిక aṇḍavāhika, నాళిక nāḷika
tube in Malayalam
ട്യൂബ്, കുഴൽ
tube in Kannada
ಟ್ಯೂಬ್, ಕೊಳವೆಯ
tube in Punjabi
ਟਿਊਬ
tube in Gujarati
ટ્યુબ, નળી
tube in Odia
ଟ୍ଯ଼ୁବ୍, ନଳୀ
tube in Nepali
ट्यूब, ट्युब, नलिका
tube in Arabic
مَاسُورَة māsūra, أُنْبُوب ʔunbūb, أُنْبُوبَة ʔunbūba
tube in Indonesian
tabung, kaleng
tube in Thai
กระบอก grà-bɔ̀ɔk, ท่อ tɔ̂ɔ, หลอด lɔ̀ɔt
tube in Vietnamese
ống, lọ, lon, lon thiếc

Examples of tube in a sentence

  • The economist also observed that some of the Victoria Line's cost should be debited to existing lines, as they would benefit from the rebuilding of their interchange stations with the new tube.1962 October, “The Victoria Line”, in Modern Railways, page 217:
  • Beer is also available from bottleshops (or bottle-o's) in cases (or 'slabs') of 24-36 cans (‘tinnies' or ‘tubes') or bottles (‘stubbies') of 375ml each.2002, Andrew Swaffer, Katrina O'Brien, Darroch Donald, Footprint Australia Handbook: The Travel Guide [text repeated in Footprint West...
  • That Humphries should imply that, in the Foster's ads, Hogan's ocker appropriated McKenzie's discourse (specifically the idiom "crack an ice-cold tube") reinforces my contention.2004, Paul Matthew St. Pierre, Portrait of the Artist as Australian: L'Oeuvre Bizarre de Barry Humphries:
  • Right now, there is a whole, an entire generation that never knew anything that didn't come out of this tube.1976, Paddy Chayefsky, Network, spoken by Howard Beale (Peter Finch):

All 40 example sentences with tube

Synonyms of tube

Forms of tube

Noun
pluraltubes
Verb
third-person singular presenttubes
present participletubing
past participletubed
pasttubed

Plural of tube: tubes

Origin of tube

From Middle French tube, from Latin tubus (“tube, pipe”), related to tuba (“long trumpet; war-trumpet”), of obscure ultimate origin, but possibly connected to tībia (“shinbone, reed-pipe”); see there. Doublet of tubus.

Words formed from tube

Phrases with tube

116 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with tube

3 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about tube

What does tube mean?
Tube means anything that is hollow and cylindrical in shape.
What is tube in Hindi?
Tube in Hindi is ट्यूब, नली. See Tube meaning in Hindi.
How do you use tube in a sentence?
The economist also observed that some of the Victoria Line's cost should be debited to existing lines, as they would benefit from the rebuilding of their interchange stations with the new tube.
What part of speech is tube?
Tube can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce tube?
Tube is pronounced /tuːb/.
What is the plural of tube?
The plural of tube is tubes.

Words near tube in the dictionary

  1. Tubbses
  2. Tubbul
  3. Tubburan
  4. Tubbut
  5. tubby
  6. tube
  7. tube amplifier
  8. tube amplifiers
  9. tube artillery
  10. tube cutter
  11. tube cutters

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: tube (page history and authors); Tube (page history and authors); tube (Hindi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); tube (Tamil, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); tube (Marathi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); tube (Urdu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); tube (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); tube (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); tube (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); tube (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); tube (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); tube (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); tube (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-uk-tube.ogg, en-au-tube.ogg.

Cite this entry: “tube.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/tube. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.