bob up

English

Verb

bob up (third-person singular simple present bobs up, present participle bobbing up, simple past and past participle bobbed up)

1. (intransitive) To rise to the surface; to ascend to the surface and remain floating there.
   • 2011, Curt Iles, A Spent Bullet: Louisiana 1941, page 125:

     He bobbed up and flailed toward the near bank. The weight of his boots and soaked uniform kept pulling him under.

2. (intransitive, by extension, figurative) To appear or arrive unexpectedly.

   That's when he bobbed up again and ruined everything.