blubber

[ bluhb-er ]

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.
3. 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.

blubber

/ ˈblʌbə /

verb

1. to sob without restraint
2. to utter while sobbing
3. 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
3. the act or an instance of weeping without restraint
4. an informal name for jellyfish

adjective

1. often in combination swollen or fleshy

   blubber-faced

   blubber-lips

blubber

/ blŭb′ər /

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.

Derived Forms

• ˈblubberer, noun

Other Words From

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of blubber¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of blubber¹

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

Example Sentences

The daughter of a disgraced house, Valya isn’t content to accept her family’s banishment to a life peddling whale fur and blubber.

From Salon

This was a revival of an older recipe, we were told, but the chicken was a blob of blubber with the consistency of paper.

From Los Angeles Times

“It’s a scientific tool we use to collect whale skin and blubber samples.”

From BBC

“But in the whaling ship, that’s where they store the blubber.”

From New York Times

They swim slowly and near shore, have thick blubber and float when killed, according to Jessica Crance, a research biologist with the Cetacean Assessment and Ecology Program at the Alaska Fisheries Science Center.

From Seattle Times

Related Words

• fat