blubber

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   To cry loudly and messily, often while struggling to speak.

   The child blubbered for ten minutes after dropping her ice cream.

2. 2
   noun

   The thick layer of fat under the skin of whales and other sea mammals.

   A whale's blubber keeps it warm in icy water.

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…

Topics