spume

[ spyoom ]

verb (used with object)

, spumed, spum·ing.

1. to eject or discharge as or like foam or froth; spew (often followed by forth ).

verb (used without object)

, spumed, spum·ing.

1. to foam; froth.

noun

1. foam, froth, or scum.

spume

/ spjuːm /

noun

1. foam or surf, esp on the sea; froth

verb

1. intr to foam or froth

Derived Forms

• ˈspumous, adjective

Other Words From

• spumous spumy adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of spume¹

1300–50; Middle English < Latin spūma foam, froth; akin to foam

Word History and Origins

Origin of spume¹

C14: from Old French espume, from Latin spūma; related to spuere to spew

Example Sentences

She covers these turbid, hot-colored grounds with those deft black lines and smudges, plus airbrushed spumes of white or red, and also multicolored halftone dots that form a bridge between image and information.

From New York Times

For tens of minutes on a quarantined Thursday night, I spumed.

From New York Times

I watched the spumes of snow spiraling upward from the nearest peak.

From New York Times

When a juggernaut passed the other way, it slapped up spumes onto the streaming windscreen.

From Literature

And with its evocations of cliffs, peaks, sails and spume, the building’s form relays a sympathetic message from the San Gabriel Mountains looming to the northeast to the surf at the city’s other end.

From Los Angeles Times