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blubber

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: Blubber

English

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WOTD – 18 October 2025

Pronunciation

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Whale blubber (etymology 1, noun sense 1) prepared as food in the Northwest Territories, Canada.
An Inupiak woman in Alaska, United States, using an ulu (type of traditional knife) to separate the blubber (etymology 1, noun sense 1.1) from the hide of a bearded seal (Erignathus barbatus). The blubber will be rendered into edible liquid seal oil.

Etymology 1

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The verb is derived from Late Middle English bloberen, bluberen (“to bubble, seethe”);[1] and the noun from Late Middle English blober, bluber (“bubble; bubbling water; foaming waves; fish or whale oil; entrails, intestines; (medicine) pustule”),[2] both probably onomatopoeic, representing the movement or sound of a bubbling liquid, or the movement of lips forming bubbles (compare bleb and blob, thought to be similarly imitative). As both the verb and noun are attested in the 14th century, it is difficult to tell which one developed first; the Oxford English Dictionary suggests that the noun may be derived from the verb.[3][4]

Verb sense 1.2 (“to cause (one’s face) to disfigure or swell through crying”) is influenced by blubber (adjective).[3]

Verb

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blubber (third-person singular simple present blubbers, present participle blubbering, simple past and past participle blubbered)

  1. (transitive)
    1. Often followed by out: to cry out (words) while sobbing.
      • 1749, Henry Fielding, “The Arrival of Mr. Western, with Some Matters Concerning the Paternal Authority”, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume VI, London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, book XVII, page 104:
        Here Bliſil ſighed bitterly; upon vvhich VVeſtern, vvhoſe Eyes vvere full of Tears at the praiſe of Sophia, blubbered out, 'Don't be Chicken-hearted, for ſhat ha her, d—n me, ſhat ha her, if ſhe vvas tvventy Times as good.'
    3. (archaic, also figurative) To wet (one's eyes or face) by crying; to beweep; also, to cause (one's face) to disfigure or swell through crying.
      • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 13, page 190:
        Her ſvvollen eyes vvere much diſfigured, / And her faire face vvith teares vvas fovvly blubbered.
      • a. 1632 (date written), John Donne, “Sermon LIII. Preached upon the Penitential Psalms.”, in Henry Alford, editor, The Works of John Donne, D.D., […], volume II, London: John W[illiam] Parker, […], published 1839, →OCLC, page 488:
        As God sees the water in the spring in the veins of the earth, before it bubble upon the face of the earth; so God sees tears in the heart of a man, before they blubber his face; God hears the tears of that sorrowful soul, which for sorrow cannot shed tears.
      • 1718, Mat[thew] Prior, “A Better Answer”, in Poems on Several Occasions, London: […] Jacob Tonson […], and John Barber […], →OCLC, stanza I, page 96:
        Dear Cloe, how blubber'd is that pretty Face? / Thy Cheek all on Fire, and Thy Hair all uncurl'd: […]
      • 1749, Henry Fielding, “The Generous and Grateful Behaviour of Mrs. Miller”, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume VI, London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, book XVII, page 97:
        [S]he haſtily retired, taking vvith her her little Girl, vvhoſe eyes vvere all over blubbered at the melancholy Nevvs ſhe heard of Jones, vvho uſed to call her his little VVife, and not only gave her many Playthings, but ſpent vvhole Hours in playing vvith her himſelf.
      • 1870, James Russell Lowell, “New England Two Centuries ago”, in Among My Books, Boston, Mass.: Fields, Osgood, & Co., →OCLC, page 242:
        The opening of the first grammar-school was the opening of the first trench against monopoly in church and state; the first row of trammels and pothooks which the little Shearjashubs and Elkanahs blotted and blubbered across their copy-books, was the preamble to the Declaration of Independence.
        A figurative use, likening words written untidily in copybooks to tears streaking a face.
    4. (obsolete) Often followed by forth: to let (one's tears) flow freely.
      • [1595], Michael Drayton, Endimion and Phœbe. Ideas Latmus, London: […] Iames Roberts, for Iohn Busbie, →OCLC, signature C2, verso:
        Looke on this tree, vvhich blubbereth Amber gum / vvhich ſeemes to ſpeak to thee, though it be dumb, / VVhich being ſenceles blocks, as thou do'ſt ſee, / VVeepe at my vvoes, that thou might'ſt pitty mee: […]
        A figurative use.
      • 1720, John Gay, “[Tales.] The Mad-dog. A Tale.”, in Poems on Several Occasions, volume II, London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], and Bernard Lintot, […], →OCLC, page 335:
        Behold her novv in humble guiſe, / Upon her knees vvith dovvncaſt eyes / Before the Prieſt: ſhe thus begins, / And ſobbing, blubbers forth her ſins; […]
  2. (intransitive)
    2. (chiefly derogatory) To cry or weep freely and noisily; to sob.
      Synonyms: see Thesaurus:weep
    3. (obsolete) To bubble or bubble up; also, to make a bubbling sound like water boiling.
Usage notes
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Sense 2.1 (“to cry or weep freely and noisily”) is generally used to suggest that a person is crying in an uncontrolled and embarrassing manner, and that the observer finds this unbecoming.[3]

Conjugation
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Conjugation of blubber
infinitive (to) blubber
present tense past tense
1st-person singular blubber blubbered
2nd-person singular blubber, blubberest† blubbered, blubberedst†
3rd-person singular blubbers, blubbereth† blubbered
plural blubber
subjunctive blubber blubbered
imperative blubber —
participles blubbering blubbered

† Archaic or obsolete.

Derived terms
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Translations
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Noun

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blubber (countable and uncountable, plural blubbers)

  2. (uncountable, countable) A fatty layer of adipose tissue found immediately beneath the epidermis of whales and other cetaceans (infraorder Cetacea).
    • 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “Cetology”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 155:
      Though their [the hyena whale or pilot whale's] blubber is very thin, some of these whales will yield you upwards of thirty gallons of oil.
    • 1937–1961, Theodore Roethke, “The Whale”, in I Am! Says the Lamb, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday & Company, published 1961, →OCLC, part 1 (The Nonsense Poems), page 12:
      There was a most Monstrous Whale: / He had no Skin, he had no Tail. / When he tried to Spout, that Great Big Lubber, / The best he could do was Jiggle his Blubber.
    • 2013 August 3, “Yesterday’s fuel”, in The Economist‎[1], volume 408, number 8847, London: The Economist Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2013-08-04:
      The first barrels of crude fetched $18 (around $450 at today's prices). It was used to make kerosene, the main fuel for artificial lighting after overfishing led to a shortage of whale blubber.
    2. (uncountable) A fatty layer of adipose tissue found in other animals which keeps them warm, especially Arctic animals such as sea lions and Antarctic animals such as penguins.
      • 1877, Charles W[inslow] Hall, “A Change of Base—Building a Snow-hut—The View from the Berg—A Strange Meeting”, in Adrift in the Ice-fields, Boston, Mass.: Lee and Shepard; New York, N.Y.: Charles T. Dillingham, →OCLC, page 257:
        There were hundred of slaughtered seals, and it was evident that, as far as the eye could reach, the work of death had been complete. Still something had occurred to prevent the hunters from securing their rich booty, for huge piles of skins, with their adhering blubber, were scattered over the ice, and near one was planted firmly in the floe a boat-hook, with a small flag at the top.
    3. (uncountable, informal, chiefly derogatory and offensive) A person's fat tissue, usually when regarded as excessive and unsightly.
      • 1977 April 23, M. M. B., “Letter from Home”, in Neil Miller, editor, Gay Community News, volume 4, number 43, Boston, Mass.: GCN, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 16, column 1:
        Are you numbered among the employed yet? I read the unemployment figures and I shudder. You do not have any stored-up blubber to live on.
    4. (countable, by extension, archaic) A jellyfish (subphylum Medusozoa).
      • 1834, [Frederick Marryat], chapter II, in Jacob Faithful […], volume III, London: Saunders and Otley, […], →OCLC, page 23:
        You know, Jacob, that the North Seas are full of these animals—you cannot imagine the quantity of them; the sailors call them blubbers, because they are composed of a sort of transparent jelly, but the real name I am told is Medusæ, that is, the learned name.
  3. (countable, chiefly derogatory) An act of crying or weeping freely and noisily.
    • 1858, Thomas Carlyle, “In Papa’s Sick-room; Prussian Inspections; End of War”, in History of Friedrich II. of Prussia, Called Frederick the Great, volume II, London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, book IX, page 536:
      Fassmann gives dolorous clippings from the Leyden Gazette, all in a blubber of tears, according to the then fashion, but full of impertinent curiosity withal.
  4. (countable, obsolete) A bubble.
Alternative forms
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Derived terms
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Descendants
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  • → German: Blubber
Translations
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Etymology 2

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From blub +‎ -er (suffix forming agent nouns).[5]

Noun

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blubber (plural blubbers)

  1. One who blubs (“cries or weeps freely and noisily”); a blubberer.
    Synonym: sobber
    Hypernyms: crier, weeper
    • 1832 May, Thomas Carlyle, “[James] Boswell’s Life of [Samuel] Johnson”, in R[alph] W[aldo] E[merson], editor, Critical and Miscellaneous Essays: […], volume III, Boston, Mass.: James Munroe and Company, published 1839, →OCLC, page 147:
      [T]hree of the boys, of whom Mr. Hector was sometimes one, used to come in the morning as his humble attendants, and carry him [Johnson] to school. […] The purfly, sand-blind lubber and blubber, with his open mouth, and face of bruised honeycomb; yet already dominant, imperial, irresistible!
    • 2011 April 13, Nikki Sanderson, quotee, “Nikki Sanderson: from the Street to the stage”, in Geordie Greig, editor, Evening Standard‎[2], London: Evening Standard, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2023-03-24:
      It was really emotional. I am a blubber at the best of times. I had only been there for 18 months and found it upsetting so it was really hard for the people that had been there for 18 years.
    • 2022 October 24, Christina Trevanion, quotee, “The Repair Shop’s Will Kirk and Antiques Road Trip’s Christina Trevanion Become The Travelling Auctioneers in Idyllic New BBC One Series”, in BBC‎[3], published 25 October 2022, archived from the original on 2023-03-24:
      As an auctioneer, you tend to come into people's lives when they are going through an awful lot, and it is very difficult not to get emotionally involved. You feel responsible for helping them to achieve their goal, and that's quite a weight to carry on your shoulders. I am a blubber at the best of times – it doesn't take a lot to set me off!
Translations
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Etymology 3

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A variant of blabber and blobber, probably influenced by blub and blubber (noun).[6]

Adjective

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blubber (not comparable)

  1. (archaic) Especially of lips: protruding, swollen.
    • 1677 July 5–8 (Gregorian calendar), The London Gazette, number 1211, In the Savoy [London]: Tho[mas] Newcomb, →OCLC, page [2], column 2:
      Henry Blomfield Grocer in Bungay in Suffolk, about 30 years of age, of a middle ſtature, round viſag'd, of a ruddy complexion, having full blubber lips very remarkable, ſhort brovvn hair curling at the ends, on a ſad gray horſe 14 hands high, did on VVedneſday evening the 20 of this inſtant June, leave his Family, and run avvay vvith a Sum of Mony in tvvo black leather Bags. VVhoſoever ſhall diſcover the ſaid Henry Blomfeild,[sic] ſo as to be apprehended, and ſhall give notice to Mr. John Uffing at the Green Dragon in Biſhopſgate-ſtreet, ſhall have five pounds revvard.
    • 1825 June 22, [Walter Scott], chapter XII, in Tales of the Crusaders. […], volume IV (The Talisman), Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., →OCLC, page 253:
      And what like is the Nubian slave, who comes ambassador on such an errand from the Soldan? […] with black skin, a head curled like a ram's, a flat nose, and blubber lips—ha, worthy Sir Henry?
Translations
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References

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  1. ^ “bloberen, v.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  2. ^ “blober, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 “blubber, n.1”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, December 2024.
  4. ^ “blubber1, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022; “blubber2, v.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  5. ^ “blubber, n.2”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, September 2024.
  6. ^ “blubber, adj.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, September 2024; “blubber1, adj.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Further reading

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Anagrams

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Dutch

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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Borrowed from English blubber

Noun

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blubber m (uncountable)

  1. mud, or anything of similar consistency and slipperiness
  2. blubber, fatty tissue
Derived terms
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Etymology 2

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See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

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blubber

  1. inflection of blubberen:
    1. first-person singular present indicative
    2. (in case of inversion) second-person singular present indicative
    3. imperative

German

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Pronunciation

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Verb

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blubber

  1. inflection of blubbern:
    1. first-person singular present
    2. singular imperative
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