blubber
Part of speech: verb
noun
Morphological type: simple
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).
Inflected forms:
form: blubbers
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: blubbering
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: blubbered
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: blubbered
pos: verb
tags: past
form: no-table-tags
pos: verb
tags: table-tags
form: glossary
pos: verb
tags: inflection-template
form: blubber
pos: verb
tags: infinitive
form: blubber
pos: verb
tags: first-person
present
singular
form: blubbered
pos: verb
tags: first-person
past
singular
form: blubber
pos: verb
tags: present
second-person
singular
form: blubberest
pos: verb
tags: archaic
present
second-person
singular
form: blubbered
pos: verb
tags: past
second-person
singular
form: blubberedst
pos: verb
tags: archaic
past
second-person
singular
form: blubbers
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: blubbereth
pos: verb
tags: archaic
present
singular
third-person
form: blubbered
pos: verb
tags: past
singular
third-person
form: blubber
pos: verb
tags: plural
present
form: blubbered
pos: verb
tags: past
plural
form: blubber
pos: verb
tags: present
subjunctive
form: blubbered
pos: verb
tags: past
subjunctive
form: blubber
pos: verb
tags: imperative
present
form: -
pos: verb
tags: imperative
past
form: blubbering
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: blubbered
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: blobber
pos: verb
tags: alternative
archaic
form: blubbers
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: blobber
pos: noun
tags: alternative
archaic
Senses:
gloss: Often followed by out: to cry out (words) while sobbing.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: Here Bliſil ſighed bitterly; upon vvhich VVeſtern, vvhoſe Eyes vvere full of Tears at the praiſe of Sophia, blubbered out, 'Don't be Chicken-hearted, for ſhat ha her, d—n me, ſhat ha her, if ſhe vvas tvventy Times as good.'
gloss: To wet (one's eyes or face) by crying; to beweep; also, to cause (one's face) to disfigure or swell through crying.
pos: verb
tags: also
archaic
figuratively
transitive
examples: Her ſvvollen eyes vvere much diſfigured, / And her faire face vvith teares vvas fovvly blubbered.
As God sees the water in the spring in the veins of the earth, before it bubble upon the face of the earth; so God sees tears in the heart of a man, before they blubber his face; God hears the tears of that sorrowful soul, which for sorrow cannot shed tears.
Dear Cloe, how blubber'd is that pretty Face? / Thy Cheek all on Fire, and Thy Hair all uncurl'd: […]
[S]he haſtily retired, taking vvith her her little Girl, vvhoſe eyes vvere all over blubbered at the melancholy Nevvs ſhe heard of Jones, vvho uſed to call her his little VVife, and not only gave her many Playthings, but ſpent vvhole Hours in playing vvith her himſelf.
The opening of the first grammar-school was the opening of the first trench against monopoly in church and state; the first row of trammels and pothooks which the little Shearjashubs and Elkanahs blotted and blubbered across their copy-books, was the preamble to the Declaration of Independence.
gloss: Often followed by forth: to let (one's tears) flow freely.
pos: verb
tags: obsolete
transitive
examples: Looke on this tree, vvhich blubbereth Amber gum / vvhich ſeemes to ſpeak to thee, though it be dumb, / VVhich being ſenceles blocks, as thou do'ſt ſee, / VVeepe at my vvoes, that thou might'ſt pitty mee: […]
Behold her novv in humble guiſe, / Upon her knees vvith dovvncaſt eyes / Before the Prieſt: ſhe thus begins, / And ſobbing, blubbers forth her ſins; […]
gloss: To cry or weep freely and noisily; to sob.
pos: verb
tags: derogatory
intransitive
examples: What weepe? fye for ſhame, and blubber? for manhods ſake, / Neuer lette your foe ſo muche pleaſure of you take.
VVhere are you, vvife? my Celia? vvhat, blubbering? / Come, drye thoſe teares, I thinke, thou thought'ſt mee in earneſt?
Euen as a mother ſendeth forth her childe to ſchoole vvith fayre vvords and promiſes, that hath ſlept too long in the morning, and therefore feareth the rodde, vvhen he vveepeth and blubbereth ſhe promiſeth him, all vvill be vvell, becauſe it is not ſo late as he imagineth, […] euen ſo, manie Paſtours of ſoules ſpeake pleaſing things to their ſheepe that are riche and delicate, they promiſe them, vvhen they are dying, and feare hell, that all things ſhall be vvell vvith them, […]
VVhen he heard me pronounce theſe vvords in our ovvn language, he leaped upon me in a tranſport of joy, hung about my neck, kiſſed me from ear to ear, and blubbered like a great ſchool-boy vvho has been vvhipt.
Phœbe Mayflower blubbered heartily for company, though she understood but little of what had passed; […]
But no more of this blubbering now, we are going a-whaling, and there is plenty of that yet to come.
Poor old Diggs is blubbering like a child.
They knew that the wall stood and the house was saved, and old Sam was blubbering over old Captain Joe Dickson lying spent almost to death on the veranda where he had been carried.
Corruption reaps the young; you dread / The menace of ancestral eyes; / Recoiling from the serpent head / Of fate, you blubber in surprise.
gloss: To bubble or bubble up; also, to make a bubbling sound like water boiling.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
obsolete
gloss: A fatty layer of adipose tissue found immediately beneath the epidermis of whales and other cetaceans (infraorder Cetacea).
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: Though their [the hyena whale or pilot whale's] blubber is very thin, some of these whales will yield you upwards of thirty gallons of oil.
There was a most Monstrous Whale: / He had no Skin, he had no Tail. / When he tried to Spout, that Great Big Lubber, / The best he could do was Jiggle his Blubber.
The first barrels of crude fetched $18 (around $450 at today's prices). It was used to make kerosene, the main fuel for artificial lighting after overfishing led to a shortage of whale blubber.
gloss: A fatty layer of adipose tissue found immediately beneath the epidermis of whales and other cetaceans (infraorder Cetacea).
pos: noun
tags: uncountable
examples: There were hundred of slaughtered seals, and it was evident that, as far as the eye could reach, the work of death had been complete. 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.
gloss: A fatty layer of adipose tissue found immediately beneath the epidermis of whales and other cetaceans (infraorder Cetacea).
pos: noun
tags: derogatory
informal
offensive
uncountable
examples: 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.
gloss: A fatty layer of adipose tissue found immediately beneath the epidermis of whales and other cetaceans (infraorder Cetacea).
pos: noun
tags: archaic
broadly
countable
examples: You know, Jacob, that the North Seas are full of these animals—you cannot imagine the quantity of them; the sailors call them blubbers, because they are composed of a sort of transparent jelly, but the real name I am told is Medusæ, that is, the learned name.
gloss: An act of crying or weeping freely and noisily.
pos: noun
tags: countable
derogatory
examples: Fassmann gives dolorous clippings from the Leyden Gazette, all in a blubber of tears, according to the then fashion, but full of impertinent curiosity withal.
gloss: A bubble.
pos: noun
tags: countable
obsolete
Derived words: beblubber
beblubbered
blub
blubberation
blubbered
blubberer
blubbering
blubberingly
blubberbrain
blubberfest
blubberhead
blubberless
blubberlike
blubberous
blubbery
blubbo
sea-blubber
sea blubber
Translations:
lang: Catalan
word: greix
lang: Finnish
word: traani
lang: French
word: lard
lang: German
word: Blubber
lang: German
word: Speck
lang: German
word: Walspeck
lang: Hungarian
word: háj
lang: Hungarian
word: zsír
lang: Hungarian
word: zsírréteg
lang: Icelandic
word: rengi
lang: Irish
word: blonag
lang: Japanese
word: 皮下脂肪
roman: hikashibō
lang: Macedonian
word: маст
roman: mast
lang: Māori
word: ngako
lang: Māori
word: pakawēra
lang: Māori
word: pera
lang: Portuguese
word: panículo adiposo
lang: Russian
word: подко́жный жир
roman: podkóžnyj žir
lang: Russian
word: во́рвань
roman: vórvanʹ
lang: Serbo-Croatian
word: по̀ткожно са̏ло
lang: Serbo-Croatian
word: pòtkožno sȁlo