blubber

[bluhb-er] /ˈblʌb ər/
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)
4.
to weep noisily and without restraint:
Stop blubbering and tell me what's wrong.
verb (used with object)
5.
to say, especially incoherently, while weeping:
The child seemed to be blubbering something about a lost ring.
6.
to contort or disfigure (the features) with weeping.
adjective
7.
disfigured with blubbering; blubbery:
She dried her blubber eyes.
8.
fatty; swollen; puffed out (usually used in combination):
thick, blubber lips; blubber-faced.
Origin
1250-1300; Middle English bluber bubble, bubbling water, entrails, whale oil; apparently imitative
Related forms
blubberer, noun
blubberingly, adverb
Examples from the web for blubber
  • Humans no longer require oil from whale blubber, the only value whaling has is as an dietary vanity gesture.
  • Penguin eggs and slabs of blubber line the entrance.
  • Speaking of seal blubber, the fatty substance may be more vital to polar bear survival than previously known.
  • Otters do not have blubber, and use their fur and their high metabolisms to keep warm.
  • Water and blubber have approximately the same density and blubber is near-neutral buoyancy in water.
  • The largest animal ever to have lived, the blue whale is a marvel of bone and blubber, blowhole and baleen-in immense proportions.
  • Their blubber, or fat, insulates them in cold water.
  • The hunters also look forward to fresh muktuk, the top layer of blubber and skin, which is prized as a traditional delicacy.
  • The bolt, when shot into the whale, would excise a plug of skin and blubber.
  • The only heat and light was made from rendered whale and seal blubber.
British Dictionary definitions for blubber

blubber

/ˈblʌbə/
verb
1.
to sob without restraint
2.
to utter while sobbing
3.
(transitive) to make (the face) wet and swollen or disfigured by crying
noun
4.
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
5.
(informal) excessive and flabby body fat
6.
the act or an instance of weeping without restraint
7.
(Austral) an informal name for jellyfish
adjective
8.
(often in combination) swollen or fleshy: blubber-faced, blubber-lips
Derived Forms
blubberer, noun
Word Origin
C12: perhaps from Low German blubbern to bubble, of imitative origin
Word Origin and History for blubber
n.

late 14c., blober "a bubble, bubbling water; foaming waves," probably echoic of bubbling water. Original notion of "bubbling, foaming" survives in the figurative verbal meaning "to weep, cry" (c.1400). Meaning "whale fat" first attested 1660s; earlier it was used in reference to jellyfish (c.1600) and of whale oil (mid-15c.). As an adjective from 1660s.

v.

late 14c., "to seethe, bubble," from blubber (n.). Meaning "to cry, to overflow with weeping" is from c.1400. Related: Blubbered; blubbering.

blubber in Science
blubber
  (blŭb'ər)   
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.
Slang definitions & phrases for blubber

blubber

noun

Fat; avoirdupois (1700s+)

verb

To weep; snivel (1300s+)