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Glite Dictionary
to bob under

to bob under

7.0
To go briefly below the water surface
  • phrasal verb
translation icon : sumergirse

Examples

  • The canvas bag was lifted up over him, and his face disappeared from sight, his outline shifting and bobbing under the canvas.

    Fiction book (1996)

  • They'll learn how to tread water and keep alive under a capsized canoe, bobbing under the boat, breathing in its dark shelter.

    Fiction book (2002)

  • The child bobbed under the water to retrieve her toy.

  • He bobbed under the waves, trying to catch a glimpse of the fish below.

  • The swimmer bobbed under the surface to take a breath before diving again.

Antonyms

to emerge
249 3.5

To come out from behind or under something and become visible

How Deep

to submerge
42 3.9
to sink
258 1.0
to bob under
7.0
to dip
146 1.0

Surface Forms

bob under infinitive
bobbed under past
bobbed under past participle
bobbing under present participle
bobs under third person singular

Morphology

bob + under

The meaning 'to disappear suddenly and briefly beneath the surface' is directly and predictably composed from 'bob' (quick up-and-down movement) plus 'under' (beneath), so the sense follows straightforward spatial-motion semantics. This verb + preposition pattern is common and cross-linguistically transparent, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents can infer the MWE's meaning.

Etymology

Bob under comes from the simple picture of a cork, fish, or duck that bobs on the water and then goes under for a short time. So, it now means 'to disappear suddenly and briefly beneath the surface'.