froth
See also: froþ
English
Etymology
From Middle English froth, frooth, froþ, likely a borrowing from Old Norse froða, from Proto-Germanic *fruþǭ; Old English āfrēoþan (“to foam, froth”) is from same Germanic root. Verb attested from late 14th century.[1]
Pronunciation
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /fɹɒθ/
- (General American) IPA(key): /fɹɔθ/
- (cot–caught merger, Canada) IPA(key): /fɹɑθ/
Audio (US) (file) - Rhymes: -ɒθ, Rhymes: -ɔːθ
Noun
froth (countable and uncountable, plural froths)
- foam
- 1749, [John Cleland], Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure [Fanny Hill], London: Printed [by Thomas Parker] for G. Fenton [i.e., Fenton and Ralph Griffiths] […], OCLC 731622352:
- He replaced her again breadthwise on the couch, unable to sit up, with her thighs open, between which I could observe a kind of white liquid, like froth, hanging about the outward lips of that recently opened wound, which now glowed with a deeper red.
- 1922, Hugh Lofting, “8”, in The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle:
- Shortly after we started, while still off the lower end of the island, we sighted a steep point on the coast where the sea was in a great state of turmoil, white with soapy froth.
- Froth is a very important feature of many types of coffee.
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- (figuratively) unimportant events or actions; drivel
- L'Estrange
- It was a long speech, but all froth.
- Thousands of African children die each day: why do the newspapers continue to discuss unnecessary showbiz froth?
- L'Estrange
Derived terms
Derived terms
- froth fly
- froth insect
- froth spit
- froth worm
Translations
foam
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unimportant events or actions
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Verb
froth (third-person singular simple present froths, present participle frothing, simple past and past participle frothed)
- (transitive) To create froth in (a liquid).
- 1859, Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities, Book Two, Chapter 7,
- One lacquey carried the chocolate-pot into the sacred presence; a second, milled and frothed the chocolate with the little instrument he bore for that function; a third, presented the favoured napkin; a fourth (he of the two gold watches), poured the chocolate out.
- I like to froth my coffee for ten seconds exactly.
- 1859, Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities, Book Two, Chapter 7,
- (intransitive) (of a liquid) To bubble.
- 1842, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “The Wreck of the Hesperus,” lines 21-4,
- Colder and louder blew the wind,
- A gale from the Northeast,
- The snow fell hissing in the brine,
- And the billows frothed like yeast.
- 1973, “Black Day in Brussels,” Time, 19 February, 1973,
- English beer, along with European brews, is already the subject of an EEC investigation to determine whether additives like stabilizers (used to prevent frothing during shipment) should be allowed.
- 1842, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “The Wreck of the Hesperus,” lines 21-4,
- (transitive) To spit, vent, or eject, as froth.
- 1690, John Dryden, Don Sebastian, a Tragedy, Act I, Scene 1,
- The Mufti reddens; mark that holy cheek.
- He frets within, froths treason at his mouth,
- And churns it thro’ his teeth […]
- 1859, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, “Merlin and Vivien” in Idylls of the King,
- […] is your spleen frothed out, or have ye more?
- 1690, John Dryden, Don Sebastian, a Tragedy, Act I, Scene 1,
- (intransitive) (literally) To spew saliva as froth; (figuratively) to rage, vent one's anger.
- 1958, Nikos Kazantzakis, The Odyssey: A Modern Sequel (1938), translated by Kimon Friar, London: Secker and Warburg, Book XIII,
- The clumsy suckling struck out with her still soft claws,
- opened her frothing mouth until her milk teeth shone.
- 1962, “Riding Crime's Crest” in Time, 25 April, 1962,
- As doctors tried in vain to save April's right eye, news stories frothed at her assailant. He was “fiendish” (the Examiner), “sadistic” (the News-Call Bulletin), “probably a sexual psychopath” (the Chronicle).
- 1958, Nikos Kazantzakis, The Odyssey: A Modern Sequel (1938), translated by Kimon Friar, London: Secker and Warburg, Book XIII,
- (transitive) To cover with froth.
- A horse froths his chain.
Translations
To create froth
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Derived terms
References
- “froth” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary, 2001–2019.
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