Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(orig. US) a (school) drinking fountain.

1914, 1926		in DARE I.
1948		J.M. Cain Moth 32: She made me take a drink from the water bubbler, then squeezed my hand.
1968		B. Preston What Shall I Do Now? 84: Toilet blocks should not be entered unless the child is accompanied by an adult, and the use of bubblers for drinking water discouraged.
1979		Lette & Carey Puberty Blues 20: Tracey, Kim and I stuffed our used cake-wrappers into the bubbler and gave the drink machine a kick.
1999		G. Seal Lingo 24: A drinking fountain in Perth and Southern Queensland is what is known as a bubbler in New South Wales.
2004		G. Leitner Aus. Many Voices 254: ‘At little lunch on her first day she confused everyone by saying she was going for a drink from the bubbler. In Queensland it is a drinking fountain’ [The Mail].
2011		C. Leigh Movement 229: ‘I’m gonna go get a drink from the bubbler. Be right back.’ A ‘bubbler’ is known as a drinking fountain to the rest of the civilized world. The word stemmed from the drinking fountains found in the city parks of Milwaukee.
2021		P. Papathanasiou Stoning 96: [E]verything smaller than he remembered, play equipment, water bubblers.