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WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025foam /foʊm/USA pronunciation
n. [uncountable]
- a collection of tiny bubbles on the surface of a liquid:beer with a head of foam.
- a thick, frothy substance:A special foam kept the wreckage from catching on fire.
- Chemistrya lightweight material in which gas bubbles are dispersed in a solid, used as insulation.
v. [no object]
- to form foam;
froth:The boiling milk foamed.
Idioms
- Idioms foam at the mouth, [no obj] to be extremely angry:almost foaming at the mouth at the insult.
foam•y, adj., -i•er, -i•est.
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025foam
(fōm),USA pronunciation n.
- 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.
- Chemistrya dispersion of gas bubbles in a solid, as foam glass, foam rubber, polyfoam, or foamed metal.
- [Literary.]the sea.
v.i.
- to form or gather foam;
emit foam; froth.
v.t.
- 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.
- bef. 900; Middle English fom, Old English fām; cognate with German Feim
foam′a•ble, adj.
foam′er, n.
foam′ing•ly, adv.
foam′less, adj.
foam′like′, adj.
- 1.See corresponding entry in Unabridged froth, spume, head, fizz; scum.
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
foam / fəʊm/ - 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 poetic word for the sea
- to produce or cause to produce foam; froth
- (intransitive) to be very angry (esp in the phrase foam at the mouth)
Etymology: Old English fām; related to Old High German feim, Latin spūma, Sanskrit phenaˈfoamless
'foaming' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):
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