tube

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.

noun

1. Anything that is hollow and cylindrical in shape.
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. (Britain, colloquial, often capitalised as Tube, a trademark) 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.
   The economist also observed that some of the Victoria Line's cost should be debited to existing lines, as they would benefit from the rebuilding of their interchange stations with the new tube. 1962 October, “The Victoria Line”, in Modern Railways, page 217
   1. (obsolete) One of the tubular tunnels of the London Underground.
      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. 1929, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Disintegration Machine
4. (Australia, slang) A tin can containing beer.
   Tinnie: a tin of beer — also called a tube. 1995, Sue Butler, Lonely Planet Australian Phrasebook: Language Survival Kit
   Beer is also available from bottleshops (or bottle-o's) in cases (or 'slabs') of 24-36 cans (‘tinnies' or ‘tubes') or bottles (‘stubbies') of 375ml each. 2002, Andrew Swaffer, Katrina O'Brien, Darroch Donald, Footprint Australia Handbook: The Travel Guide [text repeated in Footprint West Coast Australia Handbook (2003)]
   That Humphries should imply that, in the Foster's ads, Hogan's ocker appropriated McKenzie's discourse (specifically the idiom "crack an ice-cold tube") reinforces my contention. 2004, Paul Matthew St. Pierre, Portrait of the Artist as Australian: L'Oeuvre Bizarre de Barry Humphries
5. (surfing) A wave which pitches forward when breaking, creating a hollow space inside.
6. (Canada, US, colloquial) 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, […] 1976, Paddy Chayefsky, Network, spoken by Howard Beale (Peter Finch)
   I sit around and watch the tube, but nothing's on. I change the channels for an hour or two. 1994, Billie Joe Armstrong (lyrics and music), “Longview”, in Dookie, performed by Green Day
7. (Scotland, slang) 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.) 2007, Christopher Brookmyre, Attack of the Unsinkable Rubber Ducks, page 231
   I'm a tube? Who got done for speeding? Who got lifted for bloody assault? 2010, Karen Campbell, The Twilight Time

verb

1. (transitive) 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. (medicine, transitive, colloquial) To intubate.
   The patient was tubed.