to bob around
1
3.9
- phrasal verb
- /bɑb əˈraʊnd/
- US
:
flotar
- The kids were bobbing around in the pool, splashing water everywhere.
- bobbing around in the water
- bob around in the sea
Examples
-
And that's exactly what happened during the time he said his boat was bobbing around like a cork on the Tyrrhenian Sea.
Blog text (31) -
Some bob around at sea forever.
-
Sometimes I'd look up and see her there, bobbing around, holding a beer.
Fiction book (1998) -
She's bobbing around.
-
He'd heard many tales of people stranded in lifeboats bobbing around in undrinkable seas or buried under tons of earth.
Fiction book (2001) -
As the boat was bobbing around gently on the waves, we enjoyed the beautiful sunset.
-
The balloons were bobbing around in the breeze, creating a cheerful atmosphere at the party.
Synonyms
24
2.7
To move up and down quickly in short movements
1
3.7
To move up and down quickly and lightly many times
1
6.1
Move up and down lightly on water, like small boats
Antonyms
How Rough
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly derivable from the parts: 'bob' denotes a repeated short vertical movement and 'around' adds the sense of moving about/adrift, so together they describe moving up and down while drifting. This motion + particle composition is a common, cross-linguistically transparent pattern that a B1 learner who knows both words can readily understand.
Etymology
Bob around brings to mind small things, like corks or toy boats, that gently rise and fall and seem to bob on the water as waves move them this way and that. So bob around means to 'move up and down' or to 'float lightly' in a loose, random way.