▪ I. blubber, n.1
(ˈblʌbə(r))
Also 4 bluber, 4–6 blober, 5 blobure, blobyr, blubbir, 7 blobber, (bloother).
[ME. blober, bluber n., blubren, blober vb. are both found in 14th c.: it is uncertain which was of prior formation; perhaps the verb. Being so much earlier than blob, blub, they cannot be extensions of the latter; but are prob. onomatopœic, from the action of the lips in making a bubble, or imitating various bubbling sounds or motions of liquids. Cf. the parallel blabber. There is also a dial. Ger. blubbern, said of water casting up bubbles, and a. LG. blubbern in herût blubbern to babble or ‘blether’. See other analogous forms in Wedgwood. The relation to bubble is seen also in the fact that in north. dial. ‘bubble’ is used for the vb. in senses 3, 4, as Sc. ‘to bubble an' greit’ = to blubber and weep.]
† 1. The foaming or boiling of the sea. Obs.
| c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. C. 221 In bluber of þe blo flod bursten her ores. Ibid. C. 266 How fro þe bot in-to þe blober watz with a best lachched. |
† 2. A bubble of foam or air upon water. Obs. exc. dial.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 40 Blobure [1499 blobyr], burbulium. c 1450 Henryson Test. Cres. 192 And at his mouth a blubbir stode of fome. 1530 Palsgr. 199/1 Blober upon water, bovteillis. a 1808 State, Leslie of Powis 136 (Jam.) s.v., That he has seen blubbers upon the water..that by blubbers he means air-bubbles. 1830 Forby East. Angl. Gloss., Blubber, a bubble. |
3. A jelly-fish or Medusa, also called sea-nettle.
| 1602 Carew Cornwall 34 b, There Swimmeth also in the Sea, a round slymie substance, called a Blobber, reputed noysome to the fish. 1775 Dalrymple in Phil. Trans. LXVIII. 393 There were many blubbers in the ship's wake, which made a very luminous appearance. 1835 Marryat Jac. Faithf. xxxi, The sailors call them blubbers, because they are composed of a sort of transparent jelly. |
4. The fat of whales and other cetaceans, from which train oil is obtained.
| 1664 Phil. Trans. I. 12 The Oyl of the Blubber is as clear and fair as any Whey. 1666 Lond. Gaz. No. 47/1 She..had in her about twelve hundred weight of Bloother for Oyl. 1671 Ray in Phil. Trans. VI. 2275 The fat, which..our Seamen call the Blubber. 1746 W. Thompson R.N. Advoc. (1757) 43 Not properly Flesh, but Slush, or Blubber, like Whales Blubber. 1870 Yeats Hist. Comm. 281 In a large whale the blubber will weigh thirty tons. |
5. The action of blubbering or weeping.
| 1825 Bro. Jonathan I. 85 Jotham..whose every breath was a hoarse blubber. 1865 Carlyle Fredk. Gt. III. ix. xi. 180 All in a blubber of tears. |
6. Comb. and attrib. (chiefly in sense 4), as blubber-boat, blubber-cask, blubber-chopper, blubber-fork, blubber-hook, blubber-knife, blubber-oil, blubber-room, blubber-ship; blubber-fed adj.; also, blubber-boiler slang, a whaling ship; blubber-guy, a large rope, or ‘guy’, suspended between the fore and main masts of a whaler, to assist in securing and supporting the carcase of a whale; blubber-lamp, a lamp which burns blubber-oil; blubber-spade, a spade-like knife used by whalers.
| 1820 Scoresby Acc. Arctic Reg. II. 299 The harpooners..divide the fat into oblong pieces or ‘slips’, by means of ‘blubber-spades’, and ‘blubber-knives’. 1835 Sir J. Ross N.-W. Pass. vi. 83 We passed a blubber cask. 1849–52 Todd Cycl. Anat. & Phys. IV. 1316/1 The fat, blubber-fed..Esquimaux. 1851 H. Melville Moby Dick II. xi. 75 They..repeat gamesome stuff about ‘spouters’ and ‘blubber-boilers’. Ibid. II. xxx. 204 The blubber-hook was inserted into the original hole. 1856 Kane Arct. Exp. II. ii. 29, I carried in our blubber-lamp. 1884 Gd. Words Jan. 40/2 A wooden jetty, a blubber-boat, and a pile of casks. |
▪ II. ˈblubber, n.2
One who blubs.
| 1832 Carlyle in Fraser's Mag. V. 393 The purfly sand-blind lubber and blubber, with his open mouth, and face of bruised honeycomb. |
▪ III. ˈblubber, a.
[Altered from the earlier blabber, blobber, probably under the influence of blub and blubber n.]
Swollen, protruding; esp. said of the lips. (Often with hyphen.)
Hence blubber-lipped, -cheeked a.
| 1667 Davenant & Dryden Tempest iii. iii, My dear Blubber-lips; this observe my Chuck. 1677 Lond. Gaz. No. 1211/4 Henry Blomfield..of a ruddy complexion, having full blubber lips very remarkable. 1690 Ibid. No. 2550/4 George Crockeford..with short black Hair..and Blubber-Lipped. 1711 J. Greenwood Eng. Gram. 178 Blubber-cheek't. 1825 Scott Talism. (1863) 196 A Negro, is he not..with black skin..a flat nose, and blubber lips? a 1845 Hood Doves & Crows iii, Stretch ev'ry blubber-mouth from ear to ear. |
▪ IV. blubber, v.
(ˈblʌbə(r))
[For forms and etymology see the n.]
† 1. intr. To bubble, bubble up; to give forth a bubbling sound, as a spring, boiling water. Obs.
| c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. B. 1017 Blo, blubrande, & blak, vnblyþe to neȝe. c 1340 Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 2174 Þe borne [= rivulet] blubred þerinne, as hit boyled hade. 1750 R. Pultock Life P. Wilkins xii. (1883) 38/2 My kettle..had been boiling, till hearing it blubber very loud..I whipped it off the fire. |
2. trans. † a. To allow (tears) to bubble forth, to give copious vent to (tears). Obs. b. To utter or cry out with copious tears and sobs.
| 1583 Stubbes Anat. Abus. (1877) 108 Blubbering foorth seas of teares. 1590 Greene Never too late (1600) 26 The teares trickled down the vermilion of her cheeks, and shee blubbred out this passion. 1720 Gay Poems (1745) II. 63 She thus begins, And sobbing, blubbers forth her sins. 1749 Fielding Tom Jones xvii. iii, Western, whose eyes were full of tears..blubbered out ‘Don't be chicken-hearted’. |
3. intr. To weep effusively; to weep and sob unrestrainedly and noisily. (Generally used contemptuously and in ridicule for ‘weep’.)
| c 1400 Test. Love ii. (1560) 283/1 Han women none other wrech..but blober and wepe till hem list stint. 1530 Palsgr. 458/1, I blober, I wepe, je pleure. a 1553 Udall Royster D. iii. iv, What, weep? Fie for shame! And blubber? 1562 Phaër æneid ix. B b iv b, Shee blobbryng still, and kindlyng further greif. 1605 B. Jonson Volpone ii. vii. Wks. (1616) 477 What, blubbering? Come, drie those teares. 1748 Smollett Rod. Rand. xliv. (1804) 292 He blubbered like a great school-boy who had been whipt. 1826 Scott Woodst. iv, Phœbe Mayflower blubbered heartily for company. 1857 Hughes Tom Brown viii. (1871) 179. |
4. trans. To wet profusely or disfigure (the face) with weeping; to beweep. Also fig. (The notion of ‘swell with weeping’ is later, and influenced by blubber a.)
| 1584 Greene Card of Fancy Wks. 1882 IV. 164 Whome he found all blubbered with tears. 1596 Spenser F.Q. ii. i. 13 Her face with teares was fowly blubbered. a 1631 Donne Serm. lv. 553 God sees Teares in the heart of a man before they Blubber his face. 1638 Suckling Aglaura v. i. (1646) 56 The pretty flowers blubber'd with dew. |
b. transf.
| 1870 Lowell Among my Bks. Ser. I. (1873) 242 Trammels and pot-hooks which the little..Elkanahs blotted and blubbered across their copy-books. |