foam

English Online Dictionary. What means foam‎? What does foam mean?

English

Etymology

From Middle English fom, foom, from Old English fām, from Proto-West Germanic *faim, from Proto-Germanic *faimaz, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)poHy-m-os, from *(s)poH(y)- (“foam”). Cognate with German Feim (“foam”), Latin spūma (“foam”), Latin pūmex (“pumice”), Sanskrit फेन (phéna, “foam”), possibly Northern Kurdish fê (“epilepsy”).

Pronunciation

• (General American) enPR: fōm, IPA^(key): /foʊm/
• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: fōm, IPA^(key): /fəʊm/
• Rhymes: -əʊm

Noun

foam (countable and uncountable, plural foams)

1. A substance composed of a large collection of bubbles or their solidified remains, especially:

   Synonym: froth

   1. A collection of small bubbles created when the surface of a body of water is moved by tides, wind, etc.

      Synonyms: surf, spindrift, spume, spray

      • 1798, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner in Lyrical Ballads, London: J. & A. Arch, p. 12,^[2]

        The breezes blew, the white foam flew, / The furrow follow’d free: / We were the first that ever burst / Into that silent Sea.
   2. A collection of small bubbles formed from bodily fluids such as saliva or sweat.
   3. A collection of small bubbles on the surface of a liquid that is heated, fermented or carbonated.

      Synonyms: effervescence, fizz, head, mousse
   4. A collection of small bubbles created by mixing soap with water.

      Synonyms: lather, suds
   5. (firefighting) A collection of small bubbles formed by mixing an extinguishing agent with water, used to cover and extinguish fires.
2. A material formed by trapping pockets of gas in a liquid or solid.

3. (figuratively, poetic) The sea.
4. Fury.
5. (African-American Vernacular, in the plural) Sneakers.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

foam (third-person singular simple present foams, present participle foaming, simple past and past participle foamed)

1. (intransitive) To form or emit foam.
2. (intransitive) To spew saliva as foam; to foam at the mouth.
3. (firefighting) To coat or cover with foam.

Derived terms

Translations