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Dec 1, 2016
This week’s theme
Onomatopoeic words

This week’s words
gnar
cackle
susurrate
blubber
chunter

blobfish
Blobfish
Photo: Grufnik

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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

blubber

PRONUNCIATION:
(BLUHB-uhr)

MEANING:
verb intr.: To weep noisily.
verb tr.: To speak incoherently while weeping.
adjective: Swollen; puffed out.
noun: 1. The layer of fat in whales and other marine mammals. 2. Excess body fat.

ETYMOLOGY:
From Middle English bluberen (to bubble), from bluber (bubble, foam), of imitative origin. Earliest documented use: c. 1400.

USAGE:
“‘I tried to maintain a face that was calm and cool, but I blubbered like a baby,’ Joseph Fiennes said.”
Fiennes Defends Michael Jackson Role; The Straits Times (Singapore); Feb 6, 2016.

See more usage examples of blubber in Vocabulary.com’s dictionary.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
If God exists, I hope he has a good excuse. -Woody Allen, author, actor, and filmmaker (b. 1 Dec 1935)

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