Wiktionary

blubber

See also: Blubber

English edit

Pronunciation edit

Etymology 1 edit

From Middle English bluber (“bubbling water; foaming waves”), of likely onomatopoeic origin. The verb is derived from the noun. See blob, bleb.

Alternative forms edit

Noun edit

blubber (countable and uncountable, plural blubbers)

  1. A fatty layer of adipose tissue found immediately beneath the epidermis.
  2. Fatty tissue.
    Synonym: adipose tissue
    • 1977 April 23, M. M. B., “Letter From Home”, in Gay Community News, page 16:
      Are you numbered among the employed yet? I read the unemployment figures and I shudder. You do not have any stored-up blubber to live on.
  3. The thick coat of fat worn by many Arctic animals, such as sea lions, and Antarctic animals, such as penguins; used to insulate warmth in the animal's body.
    • 1877, Charles W. Hall, chapter XVIII, in Adrift in the Ice-Fields‎[1], Boston: Lee and Shepard:
      Still something had occurred to prevent the hunters from securing their rich booty, for huge piles of skins, with their adhering blubber, were scattered over the ice, and near one was planted firmly in the floe a boat-hook, with a small flag at the top.
  4. (obsolete) A bubble.
Derived terms edit
Descendants edit
  • → German: Blubber
Translations edit

Verb edit

blubber (third-person singular simple present blubbers, present participle blubbering, simple past and past participle blubbered)

  1. To make noises or broken words while crying.
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:weep
  2. (archaic, transitive) To swell or disfigure (the face) with weeping; to wet with tears.
    • 1718, Matthew Prior, A Better Answer:
      Dear Cloe, how blubbered is that pretty face!
    • 1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volumes (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC:
      [S]he hastily retired, taking with her her little girl, whose eyes were all over blubbered at the melancholy news she heard of Jones, who used to call her his little wife, and not only gave her many playthings, but spent whole hours in playing with her himself.
Derived terms edit
Translations edit

Etymology 2 edit

From blub +‎ -er.

Noun edit

blubber (plural blubbers)

  1. One who blubs or weeps.
    Synonyms: crier, weeper
    • 2011 April 13, “Nikki Sanderson: from the Street to the stage”, in Evening Standard‎[2]:
      It was really emotional. I am a blubber at the best of times. I had only been there for 18 months and found it upsetting so it was really hard for the people that had been there for 18 years.
    • 2022 October 24, “The Repair Shop’s Will Kirk and Antiques Road Trip’s Christina Trevanion become The Travelling Auctioneers in idyllic new BBC One series”, in BBC‎[3]:
      As an auctioneer, you tend to come into people’s lives when they are going through an awful lot, and it is very difficult not to get emotionally involved. You feel responsible for helping them to achieve their goal, and that’s quite a weight to carry on your shoulders. I am a blubber at the best of times – it doesn’t take a lot to set me off!

Further reading edit

Anagrams edit

Dutch edit

Pronunciation edit

Etymology 1 edit

Borrowed from English blubber

Noun edit

blubber m (uncountable)

  1. mud, or anything of similar consistency and slipperiness
  2. blubber, fatty tissue
Derived terms edit

Etymology 2 edit

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb edit

blubber

  1. inflection of blubberen:
    1. first-person singular present indicative
    2. imperative

German edit

Pronunciation edit

Verb edit

blubber

  1. inflection of blubbern:
    1. first-person singular present
    2. singular imperative
Retrieved from "https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=blubber&oldid=78412938"