blubber
pronunciation
How to pronounce blubber in British English:
UK [ˈblʌbə(r)]
How to pronounce blubber in American English:
US [ˈblʌbɚ]
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- Noun:
- an insulating layer of fat under the skin of whales and other large marine mammals; used as a source of oil
- excess bodily weight
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- Verb:
- cry or whine with snuffling
- utter while crying
Word Origin
- blubber
- blubber: [14] The original notion underlying blubber is of ‘bubbling’ or ‘foaming’, particularly in relation to the sea, and it may, like bubble itself, be an onomatopoeic creation, imitative of the sound of spluttering or popping water. This sense died out in the mainstream language in the 16th century (though it survived longer dialectally), but it lies behind the verbal sense ‘cry copiously’. The development of the noun to its present meaning ‘whale fat’ is not altogether clear, but it may have been via an intermediate 15th-century application to ‘fish’s entrails’, which perhaps bubbled or appeared pustular when ripped open by the fishermen.
- blubber (n.)
- late 14c., blober "a bubble, bubbling water; foaming waves," probably echoic of bubbling water. Original notion of "bubbling, foaming" survives in the figurative verbal meaning "to weep, cry" (c. 1400). Meaning "whale fat" first attested 1660s; earlier it was used in reference to jellyfish (c. 1600) and of whale oil (mid-15c.). As an adjective from 1660s.
- blubber (v.)
- late 14c., "to seethe, bubble," from blubber (n.). Meaning "to cry, to overflow with weeping" is from c. 1400. Related: Blubbered; blubbering.
Example
- 1. Frozen whale blubber is stored outside a house in kaktovik .
- 2. " They smell like blubber , " a young man told me .
- 3. Its blubber floated to the surface , and the killer whales were about to feed on it .
- 4. To begin , soon after a dolphin sustains an injury such as a shark bite , surrounding blubber appears to extend a whitish layer over the exposed area to protect it .
- 5. Some blubber ends up in the trash , no longer prized as fuel for heat and light when a drill rig nearby makes natural gas cheap and easy .