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Synonyms

bob up

Idioms  

  1. Appear suddenly or unexpectedly. For example, I didn't know anyone in the group until Harry bobbed up. This term uses the verb bob in the sense of “to bounce,” a usage dating from Chaucer's day. [Late 1800s]

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

This dumb old Charlotte boat wasn’t sailing forward any longer; it was only bobbing up and down.

From Literature

The stubby little hairs above his lip bobbed up and down.

From Literature

Our knees move in unison, bobbing up and down as we descend.

From Literature

In the 30 years before the mid 1990s, net migration, the number arriving minus the number leaving, bobbed up and down but was broadly balanced.

From BBC

He beamed as his head bobbed up and down.

From Los Angeles Times

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.