Brewer's: Bubble

(A)

“The whole scheme [the Fenian raid on British America] was a collapsed bubble.”- The Times.

The Bubble Act, 6 George I., cap. 18; published 1719, and repealed July 5th, 1825. Its object was to punish the promoters of bubble schemes.

A bubble company. A company whose object is to enrich themselves at the expense of subscribers to their scheme.

A bubble scheme. A project for getting money from subscribers to a scheme of no value.

Bubble and Squeak
Cold boiled meat and greens fried. They first bubbled in water when boiled, and afterwards hissed or squeaked in the frying-pan.

Something pretentious, but of no real value, such as “rank and title,” or a bit of ribbon in one's button hole.

Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
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