clabber

American  

[klab-er] / ˈklæb ər /

noun

1. milk that has soured and thickened; curdled milk.

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verb (used without object)

1. (of milk) to curdle; to become thick in souring.

Regionalisms

Clabber has many regional variations, including bonnyclabber and its variant bonnyclapper in the Northern and Midland U.S., thick milk in the Hudson River Valley and North Midland U.S., lobber and its variant lobbered milk in the Inland North, clobber in the South Midland and Southern U.S., and crud in some widely scattered areas.

Etymology

Origin of clabber

1625–35; < Irish clabar short for bainne clabair bonnyclabber

Explanation

Clabber is raw milk that's curdled: it's soured and thickened. It may sound gross, but clabber is edible. This noun for naturally clotted milk has all but vanished from modern English — perhaps a victim of home refrigerators and supermarket shopping. It's the only English descendant of Irish claba, which means "thick." Clabber is certainly thick, and it's also quite chunky. The milk part — in the form of the Irish word bainne — was present in an earlier form of the term, bonnie-clabber. Clabber often consists of buttermilk, and it has frequently been a breakfast food.

Related Words

• clot
• condense
• congeal
• curdle
• swell