tube

name

1. 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 line [not a tube line]. At the end of the evening she said, "How are you getting back?" He said, "Oh, on the Tube", and she looked at him absolutely blankly. "What Tube?" she said, "There is no Tube here."”

   “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).”

noun

Etymology: 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.

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 hedge, little dreaming that the deadly tube was levelled at them.”

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. 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.”

4. 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.)

   “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.”

5. 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[.]”

   “Tinnie: a tin of beer — also called a tube.”

6. 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.”

7. 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 world, […]”

   “I sit around and watch the tube, but nothing's on. I change the channels for an hour or two.”

8. 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.)”

   “I'm a tube? Who got done for speeding? Who got lifted for bloody assault?”

9. Short for speaking tube.

   “A hundred yards before they reached the house he had given an order to his chauffeur to drop into the lowest speed and they were leisurely drawing past when a discovery by Mr Carlyle modified their plans. […] Carrados picked up the tube again. A couple of sentences passed and the car stopped by the roadside, a score of paces past the limit of the garden.”

verb

Etymology: 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.

1. To supply with, or enclose in, a tube.

   “She tubes lipstick in the cosmetics factory.”

2. To ride an inner tube.

   “They tubed down the Colorado River.”

3. To intubate.

   “The patient was tubed.”