different between blob vs shred

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

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /???d/
• Rhymes: -?d

Etymology 1

From Middle English shrede, shred, from Old English s?r?ad, s?r?ade, from Proto-Germanic *skraud? (“a cut, shred”). Doublet of escrow.

Noun

shred (plural shreds)

1. A long, narrow piece cut or torn off; a strip.
2. In general, a fragment; a piece; a particle; a very small amount.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:modicum.

Related terms

• screed

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English shreden, from Old English s?r?adian, from Proto-West Germanic *skraud?n, related to Proto-West Germanic *skraudan (“to cut up, shred”).

Verb

shred (third-person singular simple present shreds, present participle shredding, simple past shredded, past participle shredded or shred)

1. To cut or tear into narrow and long pieces or strips.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Chaucer to this entry?)
2. To reduce by a large percentage.
3. (obsolete, transitive) To lop; to prune; to trim.
4. (snowboarding) To ride aggressively.
5. (bodybuilding) To drop fat and water weight before a competition.
6. (music, slang) To play very fast (especially guitar solos in rock and metal genres).

Derived terms

• shredder

Translations

References

Further reading

• shred in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• shred in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• herds, sherd