foam

[fohm]

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SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR foam ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a collection of minute bubbles formed on the surface of a liquid by agitation, fermentation, etc.: foam on a glass of beer.

the froth of perspiration, caused by great exertion, formed on the skin of a horse or other animal.

froth formed from saliva in the mouth, as in epilepsy and rabies.

a thick frothy substance, as shaving cream.

(in firefighting)

a chemically produced substance that smothers the flames on a burning liquid by forming a layer of minute, stable, heat-resistant bubbles on the liquid's surface.
the layer of bubbles so formed.

a dispersion of gas bubbles in a solid, as foam glass, foam rubber, polyfoam, or foamed metal.

Literary. the sea.

verb (used without object)

to form or gather foam; emit foam; froth.

verb (used with object)

to cause to foam.

to cover with foam; apply foam to: to foam a runway before an emergency landing.

to insulate with foam.

to make (plastic, metal, etc.) into a foam.

Idioms

foam at the mouth, to be extremely or uncontrollably angry.

Origin of foam

before 900; Middle English fom, Old English fām; cognate with German Feim

Related formsfoam·a·ble, adjectivefoam·er, nounfoam·ing·ly, adverbfoam·less, adjectivefoam·like, adjectivede·foam, verb (used with object)un·foamed, adjectiveun·foam·ing, adjective

Synonyms for foam

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR foam ON THESAURUS.COM

1. froth, spume, head, fizz; scum.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for foam

Contemporary Examples of foam

The best example of that would be my first year when Kevin Hart hosted, we wrote a sketch called “Foam Party.”
How Aidy Bryant Stealthily Became Your Favorite ‘Saturday Night Live’ Star
Kevin Fallon
October 31, 2014
Near the Mason jars are foam heads, the kind a showgirl uses to style her wigs.
Best Career Arc Ever: From Burlesque To Bartending
Anne Berry
September 13, 2014
They chew this thing, a real thing, they do this until they foam at the mouth.
New York’s Tiniest—and Weirdest—Museum
Nina Strochlic
May 29, 2014
For enthusiasm alone, he's awarded a draft with a two-inch head of foam.
The Stacks: The Neville Brothers Stake Their Claim as Bards of the Bayou
John Ed Bradley
April 27, 2014
He thinks he is at the end of a great, sloppy ride falling backwards into the foam.
Weed Gave My Family Everything—Then Took It Away
Abby Haglage
April 9, 2014

Historical Examples of foam

Blarney her cliverly, and work her to a foam against the McBrides.
Tales And Novels, Volume 8 (of 10)
Maria Edgeworth
That tremendous hillside of foam is before my eyes night and day.
One Day's Courtship
Robert Barr
Nearly every dash of foam brought with it biting bits of seaweed now.
The Cruise of the Dry Dock
T. S. Stribling
I think we have now got rid of the Foam, as well as of the gale.
Homeward Bound
James Fenimore Cooper
The Foam put her helm down, and tacked beautifully to the south-east.
Homeward Bound
James Fenimore Cooper

British Dictionary definitions for foam

foam

noun

a mass of small bubbles of gas formed on the surface of a liquid, such as the froth produced by agitating a solution of soap or detergent in water

frothy saliva sometimes formed in and expelled from the mouth, as in rabies

the frothy sweat of a horse or similar animal

any of a number of light cellular solids made by creating bubbles of gas in the liquid material and solidifying it: used as insulators and in packaging
(as modifier)foam rubber; foam plastic

a colloid consisting of a gas suspended in a liquid

a mixture of chemicals sprayed from a fire extinguisher onto a burning substance to create a stable layer of bubbles which smothers the flames

a poetic word for the sea

verb

to produce or cause to produce foam; froth

(intr) to be very angry (esp in the phrase foam at the mouth)

Derived Formsfoamless, adjectivefoamlike, adjective

Word Origin for foam

Old English fām; related to Old High German feim, Latin spūma, Sanskrit phena

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

Word Origin and History for foam

Old English fam "foam, saliva froth," from West Germanic *faimo- (cf. Old High German veim, German Feim), from PIE *(s)poi-mo-, a root with connotations of "foam, froth" (cf. Sanskrit phenah; Latin pumex "pumice," spuma "foam;" Old Church Slavonic pena "foam;" Lithuanian spaine "a streak of foam"). The rubber or plastic variety so called from 1937.