popcorn

[pop-kawrn]

noun

1. any of several varieties of corn whose kernels burst open and puff out when subjected to dry heat.

2. popped corn.

3. peanut.

popcorn

/ ˈpɒpˌkɔːn /

noun

1. a variety of maize having hard pointed kernels that puff up when heated

2. the puffed edible kernels of this plant

Word History and Origins

Origin of popcorn¹

1810–20, short for popped corn. See pop ¹, -ed ², corn ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of popcorn¹

C19: so called because of the noise the grains make when they swell up and burst on heating

Example Sentences

It’s a concept that works just as well in October as it does on a sticky July evening, with the curtains drawn, the popcorn buttered and a camp classic flickering on the screen.

Read more on Salon

Our institutions of higher learning ignore cries about soaring tuition and obnoxious student fees for athletics and fundraise to write a big check to an already-wealthy man to eat popcorn on the couch.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Film buffs sit snugly in cars watching a drive-in movie, munching popcorn on a lovely recent fall night.

Read more on Barron's

Too many people conclude that being a paying customer liberates them to be crude and lob the F-bomb like popcorn kernels.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

He writes of how, “like hungry street cats,” they coax from their captors “a wedge of clementine, a single popcorn.”

Read more on The Wall Street Journal