blubber

[ bluhb-er ]
See synonyms for blubber on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. Zoology. the fat layer between the skin and muscle of whales and other cetaceans, from which oil is made.

  2. excess body fat.

  1. an act of weeping noisily and without restraint.

verb (used without object)
  1. to weep noisily and without restraint: Stop blubbering and tell me what's wrong.

verb (used with object)
  1. to say, especially incoherently, while weeping: The child seemed to be blubbering something about a lost ring.

  2. to contort or disfigure (the features) with weeping.

adjective
  1. disfigured with blubbering; blubbery: She dried her blubber eyes.

  2. fatty; swollen; puffed out (usually used in combination): thick, blubber lips; blubber-faced.

Origin of blubber

1
1250–1300; Middle English bluber bubble, bubbling water, entrails, whale oil; apparently imitative

Other words from blubber

  • blub·ber·er, noun
  • blub·ber·ing·ly, adverb

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

British Dictionary definitions for blubber

blubber

/ (ˈblʌbə) /


verb
  1. to sob without restraint

  2. to utter while sobbing

  1. (tr) to make (the face) wet and swollen or disfigured by crying

noun
  1. a thick insulating layer of fatty tissue below the skin of aquatic mammals such as the whale: used by man as a source of oil

  2. informal excessive and flabby body fat

  1. the act or an instance of weeping without restraint

  2. Australian an informal name for jellyfish

adjective
  1. (often in combination) swollen or fleshy: blubber-faced; blubber-lips

Origin of blubber

1
C12: perhaps from Low German blubbern to bubble, of imitative origin

Derived forms of blubber

  • blubberer, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for blubber

blubber

[ blŭbər ]


  1. The thick layer of fat between the skin and the muscle layers of whales and other marine mammals. It insulates the animal from heat loss and serves as a food reserve.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.