tube

American  

[toob, tyoob] / tub, tjub /

noun

• tubes
  plural

1. a hollow, usually cylindrical body of metal, glass, rubber, or other material, used especially for conveying or containing liquids or gases.

2. a small, collapsible, cylinder of metal or plastic sealed at one end and having a capped opening at the other from which paint, toothpaste, or some other semifluid substance may be squeezed.

3. Anatomy, Zoology. any hollow, cylindrical vessel or organ.

   the bronchial tubes.

4. Botany.

   1. any hollow, elongated body or part.

   2. the united lower portion of a gamopetalous corolla or a gamosepalous calyx.

5. inner tube.

6. Electronics. electron tube.

7. Informal.

   1. television.

   2. a television set.

8. mailing tube.

9. the tubular tunnel in which an underground railroad runs.

10. the railroad itself.

11. Surfing Slang. the curled hollow formed on the underside of a cresting wave.

12. British. subway.

13. Australian Slang. a can of beer.

14. Older Slang. a telescope.

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verb (used with object)

tubed, tubing

1. to furnish with a tube or tubes.

2. to convey or enclose in a tube.

3. to form into the shape of a tube; make tubular.

idioms

1. down the tube / tubes, into a ruined, wasted, or abandoned state or condition.

tube British  

/ tjuːb /

noun

1. a long hollow and typically cylindrical object, used for the passage of fluids or as a container

2. a collapsible cylindrical container of soft metal or plastic closed with a cap, used to hold viscous liquids or pastes

3. anatomy

   1. short for Eustachian tube Fallopian tube

   2. any hollow cylindrical structure

4. botany

   1. the lower part of a gamopetalous corolla or gamosepalous calyx, below the lobes

   2. any other hollow structure in a plant

5. 1. US and Canadian equivalent: subway.  Also called: the underground.  an underground railway system

   2. the tunnels through which the railway runs

   3. the train itself

   4. (capital) the London underground railway system

6. electronics

   1. another name for valve

   2. See electron tube cathode-ray tube television tube

7. slang a television set

8. slang a stupid or despicable person

9. slang a bottle or can of beer

10. surfing the cylindrical passage formed when a wave breaks and the crest tips forward

11. an archaic word for telescope

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verb

1. to fit or supply with a tube or tubes

2. to carry or convey in a tube

3. to shape like a tube

tube More Idioms  

1. see down the tubes.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• multitube
  adjective
• tube-like
  adjective
• tubeless
  adjective
• tubelike
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• tubes
  plural

Etymology

Origin of tube

First recorded in 1590–1600, tube is from the Latin word tubus pipe

Explanation

A tube is a pipe shape, a cylinder with a hollow space inside. If you're like most people, you sip your milkshake through a straw — a long, plastic tube. Chemists use glass tubes in labs, and plumbers work with pipes — tubes made of plastic and metal. Another kind of tube is the rubber one inside a tire. If you slide down a snowy hillside on an inflated tire tube, or ride through choppy water while sitting on one, you can also use tube as a verb. Though it's not true in the US, in London the subway is also familiarly known as the Tube.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

tube tubes tubed tubing

In the best-case scenarios, babies can require weeks in intensive care and nutritional feeding through a tube or IV and corrective surgery.

From BBC ● Aug. 3, 2026

The male bear—later identified as a known burglar named Judy—moseyed into a bathroom, put its paws on the counter and sniffed a tube of toothpaste before leaving.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026

For the entirety of his short life at the neonatal intensive care unit, he had the cannula through his nose to facilitate his breathing and a feeding tube between his lips.

From Slate ● Jul. 19, 2026

In March 1989, a midday tube rupture at the Chevron refinery in El Segundo sent cleaning solvent-filled steam into the air and trashed the paint jobs on about 2,000 neighboring cars and trucks.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 15, 2026

He also had a feeding tube fixed in the front of his neck, which pushed lumps of flesh to the sides.

From "Mountains Beyond Mountains" by Tracy Kidder and Michael French

On summer weekends, thousands show up in Guerneville with kayaks, canoes, inner tubes — just about anything that will float, preferably with a cooler attached.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026

There are those who argue urchins are a triumph of packaging, their boxes and tubes designed to look like toy store collectibles.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 2026

When touched, these cells fire toxic harpoon-like tubes designed to paralyse prey, such as plankton and small fish.

From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026

That left open the possibility that sprinklers with more complicated forms, including the curved and looping tubes found in silly sprinklers, might behave differently.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 17, 2026

If the instruments and drainage tubes were not properly disinfected, they would carry dangerous bacteria deep into the body.

From "Ambushed!" by Gail Jarrow

This device comes in two forms, tubed and tubeless.

From BBC ● Dec. 14, 2024

The Faroe Islands is a self-governing archipelago within the Kingdom of Denmark, where there is also a strong affinity for meat served in tubed form.

From Salon ● Nov. 18, 2024

For trans men, testosterone and mastectomy were common, but genital surgeries remained rare, in part because phalloplasty had only minimally evolved beyond Gillies’s tubed pedicle of the 1940s.

From New York Times ● May 10, 2022

He was a tall Dane, holding a tubed black device that he called a smoking gun.

From The New Yorker ● Apr. 4, 2016

This is the name which was formerly given to several springs in the immediate vicinity of the Excelsior, and embracing the Union and the Minnehaha, which have been recently tubed.

From Saratoga and How to See It by R. F. Dearborn

Certain lots were found to have internal tubing tears, which risk under-delivering insulin to patients.

From Barron's ● Apr. 30, 2026

Corporate outings are up this season, Lacey says, partly because of non-ski offerings like nighttime disco tubing, which features laser lights, music and drinks around fire pits.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 12, 2026

Work soon began on erecting the towering armature, which is made of 1,800 linear feet of steel tubing and 500 planter boxes.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 24, 2025

This scenic stretch of Texas Hill Country, usually a destination for tubing and camping, became the site of one of the state’s deadliest flood events in years.

From Salon ● Jul. 4, 2025

Francis, with his interest in theory, had neglected to fasten securely the rubber tubing around his suction pump.

From "Double Helix" by James D. Watson

Related Words

• cylinder
• duct
• pipe
• pipeline
• tunnel