different between foam vs flam

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

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /flæm/

Etymology 1

17th century; from flim-flam, itself perhaps from a dialectal word or Scandinavian; compare Old Norse flim (“lampoon, mockery”).

Noun

flam (countable and uncountable, plural flams)

1. A freak or whim; an idle fancy.
2. (archaic) A falsehood; a lie; an illusory pretext

   Synonyms: deception, delusion

   • 1692, Robert South, "A Further Account of the Nature and Measures of Conscience", in Forty Eight Sermons and Discourses on Several Subjects and Occasions (published 1697)

     all Pretences, or Pleas of Conscience, to the contrary, are nothing but Cant and Cheat, Flam and Delusion.

   • a perpetual abuse and flam upon posterity

Translations

Verb

flam (third-person singular simple present flams, present participle flamming, simple past and past participle flammed)

1. (obsolete) To deceive with a falsehood.

   • God is not to be flammed off with Lyes.

Translations

Etymology 2

Imitative.

Noun

flam (plural flams)

1. (drumming) Two taps (a grace note followed by a full-volume tap) played very close together in order to sound like one slightly longer note.

Derived terms

• flam paradiddle, flamadiddle

Verb

flam (third-person singular simple present flams, present participle flamming, simple past and past participle flammed)

1. (drumming, transitive, intransitive) To play (notes as) a flam.
   • 1923, Edward B. Straight, The Straight System of Modern Drumming: The "Natural Way" to Play Drums, page 10:

     We will commence to flam the notes now, as most of them are flammed when you play a March.

   • 1975, George Shipway, Free Lance, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt P (?ISBN):

     Drums ruffled and flammed.

References

Anagrams

• FMLA

Catalan

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Central, Valencian) IPA^(key): /?flam/

Noun

flam m (plural flams)

1. flan (custard dessert)

Further reading

• “flam” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “flam” in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana.
• “flam” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “flam” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Volapük

Noun

flam (nominative plural flams)

1. flame

Declension