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.
- foam at the mouth, to be extremely or uncontrollably angry.
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)
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.
Old English famgian “to foam,” from the source of foam (n.). Related: Foamed; foaming.
- Small, frothy bubbles formed in or on the surface of a liquid, as from fermentation or shaking.
- A colloid in which particles of a gas are dispersed throughout a liquid. Compare aerosol emulsion.