different between blob vs foam

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /bl?b/

  Rhymes: -?b

• (US) IPA^(key): /bl?b/
• Homophone: BLOB

Etymology 1

Possibly formed through mimesis, similarly to bleb and blubber.

Noun

blob (plural blobs)

1. A shapeless or amorphous mass; a vague shape or amount, especially of a liquid or semisolid substance; a clump, group or collection that lacks definite shape.
   • 1869: Norman Lockyer et al, Nature

     Only the outermost blob on either side in map 2 displays misalignment.

   • 1895: The Annual of the British School at Athens

     It was a colourful vase with red and white hoops on the lid, and red bands above and below the main frieze. These bands also carry a metope pattern in white of triple lines and blobs, which can just be distinguished on the photographs.
2. (astronomy) A large cloud of gas.
   1. Ellipsis of extended Lyman-Alpha blob (a huge body of gas that may be the precursor to a galaxy).
3. (dialect) A bubble; a bleb.
4. A small freshwater fish (Cottus bairdii); the miller's thumb.
5. The partially inflated air bag used in the sport of blobbing.
6. (sports, slang) A score of zero.
   • 1925, Punch (volume 168, page 561)

     A gentleman named W. Shakespeare scored a blob in the Worcestershire v. Lancashire match. We understand that he got out because the ball pitched on a "damned spot."

Derived terms

• bloblike
• blobby

Translations

See also

• cluster

Verb

blob (third-person singular simple present blobs, present participle blobbing, simple past and past participle blobbed)

1. (transitive) To drop in the form of a blob or blobs
   • 1957, "War of Nerves," Time, 7 October, 1957, [3]

     […] a cross has been burned during the night on Wechsler's lawn and a painted KKK blobbed across one wall of his home.

2. (transitive) To drop a blob or blobs onto, cover with blobs.
   • 1959, "The Big Appel," Time, 7 December, 1959, [5]

     Asked to do a mural in the coffee room of the Municipal Museum, Appel responded by blobbing all four walls and the ceiling with brilliant colors […]

3. (intransitive) To fall in the form of a blob or blobs.
   • 1964, A. S. Byatt, The Shadow of the Sun, Harcourt, Brace & Co., 1991, Chapter Three, p. 47,

     Caroline began to separate eggs, cracking them into unbelievably even halves, sliding the gold, round and elastic, from shell to shell, whilst the white hung, heavy, translucent, in thick sheets, and blobbed suddenly into her basin.

   • 2013, Marcus Berkmann, "Blood and gore of the real 'who dunnits'," Review of Silent Witnesses by Nigel McCrery, Daily Mail, 22 August, 2013, [6]

     […] whether the blood has splashed, or blobbed, or trickled, can reveal whether the victim was killed here or moved afterwards.

4. (intransitive, slang) To relax idly and mindlessly; to veg out.

Translations

Etymology 2

Noun

blob (plural blobs)

1. Alternative spelling of BLOB

References

Anagrams

• Lobb

English

Etymology

From Middle English fome, fom, from Old English f?m, from Proto-Germanic *faimaz, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)poHy-m-os, from *(s)poH(y)- (“foam”). Cognate with German Feim (“foam”), Latin sp?ma (“foam”), Latin p?mex (“pumice”), Sanskrit ??? (phéna, “foam”), possibly Northern Kurdish fê (“epilepsy”).

Pronunciation

• (General American) enPR: f?m, IPA^(key): /fo?m/
• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: f?m, IPA^(key): /f??m/
• Rhymes: -??m

Noun

foam (countable and uncountable, plural foams)

1. A substance composed of a large collection of bubbles or their solidified remains.

2. A substance formed by trapping pockets of gas in a liquid or solid.

3. (by extension) Sea foam; (figuratively, poetic) the sea.

4. Fury.

Derived terms

• foamflower
• foaminess
• foamless
• foam rubber
• foamy
• shaving foam
• spray foam

Translations

Verb

foam (third-person singular simple present foams, present participle foaming, simple past and past participle foamed)

1. (intransitive) To form or emit foam.
   • c. 1606, William Shakespeare, Antony and Cleopatra, Act II, Scene 6, [1]

     […] And that is it

     Hath made me rig my navy; at whose burthen

     The anger'd ocean foams; with which I meant

     To scourge the ingratitude that despiteful Rome

     Cast on my noble father.

   • 1706, Isaac Watts, “The Day of Judgement,” lines 1-2, [2]

     When the fierce North-wind with his airy forces

     Rears up the Baltic to a foaming fury;

   • 1908, G. K. Chesterton, The Man Who Was Thursday, Chapter 8, [3]

     They were both silent for a measure of moments, and then Syme's speech came with a rush, like the sudden foaming of champagne.

2. (intransitive) To spew saliva as foam, to foam at the mouth.
   • c. 1591, William Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part 3, Act II, Scene 1, [4]

     […] to London will we march amain,

     And once again bestride our foaming steeds,

     And once again cry ‘Charge upon our foes!’

     But never once again turn back and fly.

   • 1611, King James Version of the Bible, Mark 9:17-18, [5]

     Master, I have brought unto thee my son, which hath a dumb spirit; And wheresoever he taketh him, he teareth him: and he foameth, and gnasheth with his teeth, and pineth away.

   • 1748, John Cleland, Fanny Hill, Letter the First, Part 1, [6]

     But I was talking to the wind; for whether my tears, my attitude, or the disorder of my dress prov'd fresh incentives, or whether he was not under the dominion of desires he could not bridle, but snorting and foaming with lust and rage, he renews his attack, seizes me, and again attempts to extend and fix me on the settee […]

Derived terms

• foam at the mouth
• foamer
• foaming
• foam up

Translations