popcorn
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈpɒp.kɔː(ɹ)n/
ipa: /ˈpɑp.kɔɹn/
ipa: /ˈpʌp.kɔɹn/
ipa: [ˈpʌp.kɒːn]
ipa: [ˈpʌp.kɔɹn]
Forms: form: popcorns
form: pop-corn
form: popped corn
Etymology: Short for popped corn. By surface analysis, pop + corn.
Senses: examples: text: My friends and I ordered popcorn during the interval of the movie.
synonyms: maizypop
popmaize
glosses: A snack food made from corn or maize kernels popped by dry heating.
examples: text: Warner Bros has offered the two executives less than dollars 1m as an out-of-court settlement, a sum dismissed by Mr [Pierce] O'Donnell as 'two popcorns and two Cokes'.
ref: 1992 July 5, Phil Reeves, “Kerpow] Dynamic duo takes on Tinseltown”, in The Independent, London: Independent News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 14 Jul 2015:
text: When we went to Astoria, to see 'Drive Me Crazy,' they gave you one popcorn and the other one was free. I asked her if she wanted to eat mine, but she said there was so much popcorn, she was going to get sick.
ref: 2000 January 7, Aaron Donovan, quoting Angel, “The Neediest Cases: A ‘Big Sister’ Is Filling a Void in a Young Girl’s Life”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 27 May 2015:
text: Every Wednesday night is Date Night, and for $10 sweethearts can get two tickets, two popcorns and two sodas.
ref: 2006 July 13, Amanda Pennington, “A new wave for cineastes”, in Daily Pilot, Los Angeles, Calif.: Los Angeles Times Communications, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 28 Jul 2025:
glosses: A serving of popcorn.
examples: text: Some popcorns silently flicked off like face peelings on his shoe.
ref: 1988, Jim Freedman, “I-ran Sucks”, in Drawing Heat, Windsor, Ont.: Black Moss Press, →ISBN, page 17:
text: Don’t you feel this is nothing but throwing popcorns before a hungry elephant? This is definitely throwing popcorns before the hungry elephant. This is the imbalance that I wanted to pointed out.
ref: 1992 March 16, Shri Anbarasu Era, quotee, Lok Sabha Debates (English Version): Third Session (Tenth Lok Sabha), 10th series, volume IX, number 16, New Delhi: Lok Sabha Secretariat, →OCLC, column 714:
text: Sarani threw a few popcorns into her mouth.
ref: 2010 February 11, Sripali Vaiamon, “Conflicts in Religions and a Tidal Wave”, in The Therapy: A Novel, Bloomington, Ind.: iUniverse, →ISBN, page 271:
text: The boat lurches through choppy waves with resonating booms, tourists chatter with excitement, and the woman throwing popcorns squeals whenever our seagull guards reappear, ready for the next assault.
ref: 2012, Edmond Manning, chapter 3, in King Perry, Miami, Fla.: Dreamspinner Press, →ISBN, page 35:
text: “Blah, kiss her you fool!” an annoyingly familiar voice yelled from the door as he threw a handful of popcorns at us.
ref: 2021, Samya Khanna, “Hershey’s and Love”, in Kulsum Yasmin, compiler, Shades of Moon, Ambikapur, Chhattisgarh: Rosewood Publication, ASIN B09LHW7NN5, page 224:
glosses: A piece of popcorn.
synonyms: popmaize
glosses: A type of corn or maize with a hard outer hull that, along with the type of starch it contains, makes it suitable for popping.
examples: text: From the top the sample shows four stitch popcorns, five stitch bobbles, two rows of bells and a central leaf with leaves sloping to the left and right each side.
ref: 2008, Claire Compton, Sue Whiting, The Knitting and Crochet Bible, page 45:
topics: business
knitting
manufacturing
textiles
glosses: A kind of stitch similar to a bobble.
examples: text: With the "popcorn" method, all team members in the session spontaneously call out ideas and a facilitator writes them on a flip chart.
ref: 2002, Betsi Harris Ehrlich, Transactional Six Sigma and Lean Servicing, page 161:
text: As a way to begin the discussion about God's will, you might want to ask the group to do some "popcorn" brainstorming about the pros and cons of believing that everything that happens is God's will.
ref: 2011, Carolyn Jane Bohler, God the What?:
text: Ask: What Twitter-style hashtag characterizes our community? (Use popcorn brainstorming to elicit responses.)
ref: 2022, Jill Harrison Berg, Uprooting Instructional Inequity, page 155:
glosses: A form of brainstorming in which participants call out their ideas immediately, instead of waiting for an assigned turn to speak.
examples: text: And not at all about how a state picks which group of electors to send, which is the whole basis of the NaPoVoInterCo plan, and will yield plenty more Supreme Court popcorn if it ever gets enacted.
ref: 2020 July 10, CGP Grey, 3:55 from the start, in Supreme Court Rules on Faithless Electors in the Electoral College:
glosses: Entertainment for observers.
glosses: A slow Belgian style of soul music popular in the early 1960s.
glosses: A Romanian style of Europop popular in the late 2000s.
Derived terms: cave popcorn
grab the popcorn
piss in the popcorn
popcorn ceiling
popcorn chicken
popcorn effect
popcorn film
popcorn flower
popcornless
popcornlike
popcorn lung
popcorn movie
popcorn noise
popcorn pisser
popcorn popper
popcorn reading
popcorn shrimp
popcorn snow
popcorn tea
popdogs
styrofoam popcorn