foam

plural foams

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

   Similarly, the biotech giant Cargill has begun manufacturing a polymer from vegetable oils that is used in polyurethane foams, which is found in beddings, furniture and car-seat headrests.

   2008 April 9, Yudhijit Bhattacharjee, “Harnessing Biology, and Avoiding Oil, for Chemical Goods”, in The New York Times

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   Similar studies of rats have employed four different intracranial resorbable, slow sustained release systems—surgical foam, a thermal gel depot, a microcapsule or biodegradable polymer beads.

   2013 May-June, Charles T. Ambrose, “Alzheimer’s Disease”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3, page 200

   Synonyms: froth

2. A substance composed of a large collection of bubbles or their solidified remains, especially:
   1. countableuncountableA collection of small bubbles created when the surface of a body of water is moved by tides, wind, etc.

      1798, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner in Lyrical Ballads, London: J. & A. Arch, p. 12, The breezes blew, the white foam flew, / The furrow follow’d free: / We were the first that ever burst / Into that silent Sea.

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      ’Tis thou that rigg’st the bark and plough’st the foam,

      c. 1605–1608 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Tymon of Athens”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]

      And the heaven became livid with the violence of the tempest […] and the river was tormented into foam […]

      1838, Edgar Allan Poe, “Siope”, in Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque, volume 2, Philadelphia: Lea and Blanchard, published 1840, page 22

      Many [of the fish-traps] were full of fish that raised foam as they splashed about.

      1969, Elechi Amadi, chapter 5, in The Great Ponds,, London: Heinemann, published 1970, page 45

      Synonyms: froth, surf, spindrift, spume, spray

   2. countableuncountableA collection of small bubbles formed from bodily fluids such as saliva or sweat.

      The horses were flecked with foam and their breathing was noisy.

      1954, C. S. Lewis, chapter 9, in The Horse and His Boy, London: Collins, published 1974, page 118

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      “Again. Tell it again!” cried Fagin, tightening his grasp on Sikes, and brandishing his other hand aloft as the foam flew from his lips.

      1838, Boz [pseudonym; Charles Dickens], Oliver Twist; […], volume (please specify |volume=I, II, or III), London: Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 190

      Synonyms: froth

   3. countableuncountableA collection of small bubbles on the surface of a liquid that is heated, fermented or carbonated.

      a quart jug with a crown of foam upon it

      1859, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], chapter 21, in Adam Bede […], volume II, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC, book second, page 122

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      The last of the milk vanished in a swirl of foam and gurgling.

      1938, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, chapter 15, in The Yearling, New York: Scribner, page 174

      It was a very good palm-wine and powerful, for in spite of the palm fruit hung across the mouth of the pot to restrain the lively liquor, white foam rose and spilled over.

      1958 June 17, Chinua Achebe, chapter 8, in Things Fall Apart, New York, N.Y.: Astor-Honor, published 1959, →OCLC, part 1, page 74

      A slender thread of soft-drink foam traced her upper lip;

      1988, Anne Tyler, Breathing Lessons, New York: Viking, Part 2, p. 167

      Synonyms: froth, effervescence, fizz, head, mousse

   4. countableuncountableA collection of small bubbles created by mixing soap with water.

      […] she concentrated on the foam in the sink, tempering the water.

      1964, Saul Bellow, Herzog, New York: Viking, page 255

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      Later we shared a bath with foam up to our ears, like they always discreetly have in films.

      1988, Alan Hollinghurst, chapter 7, in The Swimming-Pool Library, paperback edition, London: Penguin Books, →ISBN, page 163

      Synonyms: froth, lather, suds

   5. countableuncountablefirefightingA collection of small bubbles formed by mixing an extinguishing agent with water, used to cover and extinguish fires.

      Synonyms: froth

   6. countableuncountablecookingA food prepared in the form of a mass of airy bubbles.

      His specialty is a mango foam.

      Synonyms: froth

3. countableuncountableA material formed by trapping pockets of gas in a liquid or solid.

   A foam mat can soften a hard seat.

4. countablefigurativelypoeticuncountableThe sea.

   He is in Europe, across the foam.

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   How slowly does sad Time his feathers moue? / Hast thee O fayrest Planet to thy home / Within the Westerne fome:

   1595, Edmund Spenser, Epithalamion

   You must dwell beyond the foam, / But I am safe and live at home.

   1885, Robert Louis Stevenson, “Foreign Children”, in A Child’s Garden of Verses, London: Longmans, Green, page 34

   But as for me, I'd sooner be A-roaring here at home About the rolling, roaring life Of them that sails the foam.

   1918, Norman Lindsay, The Magic Pudding, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 171

5. countableuncountableFury, rage, ire.
6. countablein pluraluncountableAfrican-American VernacularSneakers.

present singular third person foams · participle present foaming · participle past foamed · past foamed

1. intransitiveTo form or emit foam.

   When the fierce North-wind with his airy forces Rears up the Baltic to a foaming fury;

   1706, Isaac Watts, The Day of Judgement, lines 1–2

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   […] And that is it Hath made me rig my navy; at whose burthen The anger'd ocean foams; with which I meant To scourge the ingratitude that despiteful Rome Cast on my noble father.

   c. 1606–1607 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene vi]

   They were both silent for a measure of moments, and then Syme's speech came with a rush, like the sudden foaming of champagne.

   1908, G[ilbert] K[eith] Chesterton, chapter 8, in The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare, Bristol: J[ames] W[illiams] Arrowsmith, […]; London: Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & Company, →OCLC

   Synonyms: suds

2. intransitiveTo spew saliva as foam; to foam at the mouth.

   […] to London will we march amain, And once again bestride our foaming steeds, And once again cry ‘Charge upon our foes!’ But never once again turn back and fly.

   c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]

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   Master, I have brought unto thee my son, which hath a dumb spirit; And wheresoever he taketh him, he teareth him: and he foameth, and gnasheth with his teeth, and pineth away.

   1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Mark 9:17-18

   But I was talking to the wind; for whether my tears, my attitude, or the disorder of my dress prov'd fresh incentives, or whether he was not under the dominion of desires he could not bridle, but snorting and foaming with lust and rage, he renews his attack, seizes me, and again attempts to extend and fix me on the settee […]

   Fanny Hill

   1749, [John Cleland], “[Letter the First]”, in Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure [Fanny Hill], volume I, London: […] [Thomas Parker] for G. Fenton [i.e., Fenton and Ralph Griffiths] […], →OCLC

3. firefightingTo coat or cover with foam.

   It used to be common practice to foam the runway prior to an emergency landing, in case a fuel-fed fire occurred.