blubber
Zoology. the fat layer between the skin and muscle of whales and other cetaceans, from which oil is made.
excess body fat.
an act of weeping noisily and without restraint.
to weep noisily and without restraint: Stop blubbering and tell me what's wrong.
to say, especially incoherently, while weeping: The child seemed to be blubbering something about a lost ring.
to contort or disfigure (the features) with weeping.
disfigured with blubbering; blubbery: She dried her blubber eyes.
fatty; swollen; puffed out (usually used in combination): thick, blubber lips; blubber-faced.
Origin of blubber
1Other words from blubber
- blub·ber·er, noun
- blub·ber·ing·ly, adverb
Words Nearby blubber
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use blubber in a sentence
They were hunted incessantly for their meat and blubber, which could be turned into oil and used in a variety of industrial products like lamps.
A rare humpback whale ‘megapod’ was spotted snacking off the Australian coast | Hannah Seo | September 14, 2021 | Popular-ScienceThe settlers observed the Inuit hunting seals and then heating their homes by burning blubber, eating the meat—surviving.
Should I Move to the Southwest, Even Though There’s a Drought? | mskenazy | September 1, 2021 | Outside OnlineA sea otter’s secret to staying warm isn’t in thick stores of blubber.
Here’s how sea otters stay warm without blubber or a large body | Jaime Chambers | August 11, 2021 | Science News For StudentsSea otters are also the smallest marine mammals, which means they have a larger surface area relative to their body size through which to lose heat, and they lack the insulating blubber found in their more massive relatives.
Sea otters defy our understanding of metabolism | Claire Maldarelli | July 9, 2021 | Popular-ScienceSea otters’ secret to staying warm isn’t in thick stores of blubber.
Sea otters stay warm thanks to leaky mitochondria in their muscles | Jaime Chambers | July 8, 2021 | Science News
Meanwhile, Democratic leaders blubber about racism while cynically scheming for a permanent demographic majority.
Scott does not come off as a conventionally conceived gigglebox made of blubber.
Besides a few crumbs, it contained a small lump of narwhal blubber and a little packet.
The Giant of the North | R.M. BallantyneThen he would burst rudely into my solitude and while I sopped cold water over his injured members, he would blubber.
The Soldier of the Valley | Nelson LloydFat Boy's two hundred and eighty-odd pounds were drooped over his chair like the blubber of an exhausted, beach-stranded whale.
The Holes and John Smith | Edward W. LudwigThe faithful swallow "squid," and become a mass of blubber; the sceptics feed on solid flesh, and are thin as tigers.
Ancient Faiths And Modern | Thomas InmanRobinson began to blubber the moment George took his hand, spite of the money lost.
It Is Never Too Late to Mend | Charles Reade
British Dictionary definitions for blubber
/ (ˈblʌbə) /
to sob without restraint
to utter while sobbing
(tr) to make (the face) wet and swollen or disfigured by crying
a thick insulating layer of fatty tissue below the skin of aquatic mammals such as the whale: used by man as a source of oil
informal excessive and flabby body fat
the act or an instance of weeping without restraint
Australian an informal name for jellyfish
(often in combination) swollen or fleshy: blubber-faced; blubber-lips
Origin of blubber
1Derived forms of blubber
- blubberer, noun
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Scientific definitions for blubber
[ blŭb′ər ]
The thick layer of fat between the skin and the muscle layers of whales and other marine mammals. It insulates the animal from heat loss and serves as a food reserve.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
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