a. Also 6–7 bulbus. [f. L. bulb-us BULB sb. + -OUS, cf. F. bulbeux.]
1. Of, pertaining to, or of the nature of, a bulb.
1578. Lyte, Dodoens, liv. 215. The roote is white and bulbus. Ibid., 216. White bulbus violet.
1616. Surfl. & Markh., Country Farm, 210. A bulbous and whitish root, of a sharpe tast.
1719. London & Wise, Compl. Gard., IX. 298. The Bulbous Roots of Flowers must now be put into the Earth again.
1807. J. E. Smith, Phys. Bot., 113. Fleshy roots, whether of a tuberous or bulbous nature, must … powerfully resist drought.
2. Having bulbous or bulb-like roots.
1578. Lyte, Dodoens, II. xl. 198. Bulbosa Iris … We may call it Bulbus Ireos in English.
1610. Folkingham, Art of Survey, I. viii. 18. The little white bulbous Crow-toes.
1861. Miss Pratt, Flower. Pl., III. 91. It has several rustic names as Glory-less, Bulbous Fumitory.
1879. A. R. Wallace, Australasia, iii. 43. Lovely bulbous plants and strange-flowered terrestrial orchids also abound.
3. Bulb-shaped; swollen.
1783. T. Hutchins, in Phil. Trans., LXXIII. 320. As much quicksilver … as … just filled the bulbous part of the cylinder.
1807. Southey, Espriella’s Lett. (1814), II. 203. A … fellow, with a bottle belly and a bulbous nose.
1809. W. Irving, Knickerb. (1861), 50. The worthy in question was a burly, bulbous man.
1836. Todd, Cycl. Anat. & Phys., I. 635/2. The cilia were bulbous at the root.
1866. Cornh. Mag., Dec., 760. The bulbous minarets of Garben’s new Kursaal.
† 4. In concentric layers, like coats of an onion.
1677. Plot, Oxfordsh., 55. The Earth is here … I think I may say of a bulbous nature, several folds of divers colours.
5. Comb., as bulbous-rooted; also bulbous-headed; bulbous-shoed (humorous).
1860. Hawthorne, Marb. Fawn (1878), II. xxiv. 269. He looked at each … *bulbous-headed monster.
1611. Cotgr., Satyrion … *Bulbus-rooted … hearbs.
1807. J. E. Smith, Phys. Bot., 41. Bulbous-rooted grasses.
1852. Dickens, Bleak Ho., I. i. 16. Blue-nosed, *bulbous-shoed old benchers.
