blubber

1 of 2

verb

blub·​ber ˈblə-bər How to pronounce blubber (audio)
blubbered; blubbering ˈblə-b(ə-)riŋ How to pronounce blubber (audio)

intransitive verb

: to weep noisily

transitive verb

1
: to swell, distort, or wet with weeping
2
: to utter while weeping

blubber

2 of 2

noun

1
a
: the fat of whales and other large marine mammals
b
: excessive fat on the body
2
: the action of blubbering

Examples of blubber in a Sentence

Verb Oh, stop blubbering, you big baby! the poor child was blubbering because he had fallen and skinned his knee
Recent Examples on the Web
Verb
And then raised the teacup to my lips to keep from blubbering. Alice McDermott, Harper's Magazine, 11 Sep. 2023 Stepping into the impossible shoes of Crispin Glover, Cole’s rubber-limbed George McFly has all the grace of a newborn foal, with a piercing chuckle that borders on blubbering. Patrick Ryan, USA TODAY, 4 Aug. 2023 Until Beard plays them a compilation video of their time together, which has everyone blubbering and out of sorts to start the game. Rick Porter, The Hollywood Reporter, 31 May 2023 In a single scene, Sizemore cycles a full Crime and Punishment of monstrous evil, confused conscience, and spiritual regret, before blubbering out a confession. Leah Greenblatt, Randall Colburn, EW.com, 4 Mar. 2023 Their white American maleness is too mythic and valuable to go around blubbering all over valets. Wesley Morris, New York Times, 4 Feb. 2020 According to researchers on shore, the octopuses were likely chowing down on living crustaceans, not blubber remaining on the bones. Rachael Lallensack, Smithsonian, 16 Oct. 2019 As the humans blubbered and begged for their lives, the bots turned them into target practice, used their corpses to set up ambushes to create more corpses, and hanged them only after the slow torment of a monologue. David Sims, The Atlantic, 22 Apr. 2018 And over the last 24 hours, there’s been loads of excitement: Team USA’s nail-biting final curling match against Sweden left four-time Olympian John Shuster a blubbering mess after leading his team to gold. Kathryn Lundstrom, SI.com, 24 Feb. 2018
Noun
Well, not the woolly mammoth exactly, but an Asian elephant gene-edited to give it the fuzzy hair and layer of blubber that allowed its close relative to thrive in sub-zero environments. Matt Reynolds, WIRED, 6 Mar. 2024 People harvested the baleen, blubber, bone, meat, oil, and spermaceti. Emilie Le Beau Lucchesi, Discover Magazine, 26 Oct. 2023 Residents trade bags of fish with northern villagers for blubber and with southern villagers for venison. Alec Luhn, Scientific American, 19 Dec. 2023 When such a player cannot be found for a position, blubber will have to do. Bill Swank, San Diego Union-Tribune, 22 Dec. 2023 Those adaptations go beyond thick layers of blubber for insulation and up into the pinniped’s nose. Laura Baisas, Popular Science, 14 Dec. 2023 Before fossil fuels came into widespread use in the late nineteenth century, whales were slaughtered for their blubber—the primary fuel used in oil lamps across Europe and North America. Stephen Lezak, The New Republic, 1 Nov. 2023 Starting in the early 19th century, hunters began systematically killing the marine mammals and harvested their blubber for oil. Sarah Kuta, Smithsonian Magazine, 3 Oct. 2023 So efficient is the bowhead’s foot of blubber insulation that bowhead skin temperatures are about equal to the surrounding frigid ocean, while their internal temperature remains about 92.7 degrees. Ned Rozell | Alaska Science, Anchorage Daily News, 15 July 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'blubber.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Verb

Middle English blubren to make a bubbling sound, from bluber

Noun

Middle English bluber bubble, foam, probably of imitative origin

First Known Use

Verb

15th century, in the meaning defined at intransitive sense

Noun

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Time Traveler
The first known use of blubber was in the 15th century

Dictionary Entries Near blubber

Cite this Entry

“Blubber.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/blubber. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

blubber

1 of 2 noun
blub·​ber ˈbləb-ər How to pronounce blubber (audio)
1
: the fat of whales and other large sea mammals
2
: the action of blubbering

blubber

2 of 2 verb
blubbered; blubbering
-(ə-)riŋ
1
: to weep noisily
2
: to talk and weep at the same time

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