blubber
UK /ˈblʌbə/ · US /ˈblʌbəɹ/ verb, noun, adjective
Forms blubbers blubbering blubbered blubberest blubberedst blubbereth blobber
- verb Often followed by out: to cry out (words) while sobbing.
- verb (archaic, also figurative) To wet (one's eyes or face) by crying; to beweep; also, to cause (one's face) to disfigure or swell through crying.
- verb (obsolete) Often followed by forth: to let (one's tears) flow freely.
- verb (chiefly derogatory) To cry or weep freely and noisily; to sob.
- verb (obsolete) To bubble or bubble up; also, to make a bubbling sound like water boiling.
- noun (uncountable, countable) A fatty layer of adipose tissue found immediately beneath the epidermis of whales and other cetaceans (infraorder Cetacea).
- noun (uncountable) A fatty layer of adipose tissue found in other animals which keeps them warm, especially Arctic animals such as sea lions and Antarctic animals such as penguins.
- noun (uncountable, informal, chiefly derogatory and offensive) A person's fat tissue, usually when regarded as excessive and unsightly.
- noun (countable, by extension, archaic) A jellyfish (subphylum Medusozoa).
- noun (countable, chiefly derogatory) An act of crying or weeping freely and noisily.
- noun (countable, obsolete) A bubble.
- noun One who blubs (“cries or weeps freely and noisily”); a blubberer.
- adjective (archaic) Especially of lips: protruding, swollen.
Synonyms
beweep burst into tears cry cry one's eyes out greet shed a tear shed tears squirt some wail weep sobber fatness fat avoirdupois snivel sniffle blub snuffle blubber out
Etymology
The verb is derived from Late Middle English bloberen, bluberen (“to bubble, seethe”); and the noun from Late Middle English blober, bluber (“bubble; bubbling water; foaming waves; fish or whale oil; entrails, intestines; (medicine) pustule”), both probably onomatopoeic, representing the movement or sound of a bubbling liquid, or the movement of lips forming bubbles (compare bleb and blob, thought to be similarly imitative). As both the verb and noun are attested in the 14th century, it is difficult to tell which one developed first; the Oxford English Dictionary suggests that the noun may be derived from the verb.
Verb etymology 1, verb sense 1.2 (“to cause (one’s face) to disfigure or swell through crying”) is influenced by blubber (adjective).
From blub + -er (suffix forming agent nouns).
A variant of blabber and blobber, probably influenced by blub and blubber (noun).
Webster’s 1913
- noun A bubble.
- noun The fat of whales and other large sea animals from which oil is obtained. It lies immediately under the skin and over the muscular flesh.
- verb To weep noisily, or so as to disfigure the face; to cry in a childish manner.
- verb To swell or disfigure (the face) with weeping; to wet with tears.
Etymology [See Blobber, Blob, Bleb.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “blubber”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details