bounce: Meaning and Definition of

bounce

1. to spring back from a surface in a lively manner: The ball bounced off the wall.
2. to strike the ground or other surface, and rebound: The ball bounced once before he caught it.
3. to move or walk in a lively, exuberant, or energetic manner: She bounced into the room.
4. to move along in a lively manner, repeatedly striking the surface below and rebounding: The box bounced down the stairs.
5. to move about or enter or leave noisily or angrily (fol. by around, about, out, out of, into, etc.): He bounced out of the room in a huff.
6. (of a check or the like) to fail to be honored by the bank against which it was drawn, due to lack of sufficient funds.

1. to cause to bound and rebound: to bounce a ball; to bounce a child on one's knee; to bounce a signal off a satellite.
2. to refuse payment on (a check) because of insufficient funds: The bank bounced my rent check.
3. to give (a bad check) as payment: That's the first time anyone bounced a check on me.
4. to eject, expel, or dismiss summarily or forcibly.
5. to recover quickly: After losing the first game of the double-header, the team bounced back to win the second.

1. a bound or rebound: to catch a ball on the first bounce.
2. a sudden spring or leap: In one bounce he was at the door.
3. ability to rebound; resilience: This tennis ball has no more bounce.
4. vitality; energy; liveliness: There is bounce in his step. This soda water has more bounce to it.
5. the fluctuation in magnitude of target echoes on a radarscope.
6. a dismissal, rejection, or expulsion: He's gotten the bounce from three different jobs.

1. with a bounce; suddenly.