frothy

frothy

English

Etymology

froth +‎ -y

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

Adjective

frothy (comparative frothier, superlative frothiest)

1. Foamy or churned to the point of becoming infused with bubbles.
   • 1903, ‎Frederick James Lloyd, Report on the Results of Investigations Into Cidermaking, page 50:

     When this brown head was obtained the juice was drawn off into barrels, the lees were left in the keeve, and new juice was pumped upon these lees, this, however, produced a white frothy head, similar to that in the remaining keeves.

   • 1964, John Henry Vohr, A Photographic Study of Boiling Flow, page 113:

     The motion of this liquid layer was made visible by the small , frothy bubbles of vapor which were present in the film.

   • 1992, Pearl Violette Metzelthin, editor, Gourmet - Volume 52, Issues 1-6, page 128:

     For a frothy result, in a blender blend the hot chocolate in batches.

   I like my milkshakes frothy, not flat like this!

2. (figuratively) lightweight; lacking depth or substance

   songs with frothy lyrics

   a frothy argument

   • 1825, Mary Martha Sherwood, The lady of the manor, page 87:

     I cannot describe to you what pain I feel in repeating this light and frothy conversation, but I have compelled myself to give it you at some length, in order to lay before you, in its true light, the weakness of that heart which is not upheld by divine strength, and to shew you how little dependence can be placed on those who walk in their own strength, and are not divinely upheld.

   • 1827, Robert Pollok, The Course of Time

     The frothy orator, who busked his tales
     In quackish pomp of noisy words

   • 1921, New Zealand Parliament, Parliamentary Debates: House of Representatives, page 888:

     Now, I ask those honourable gentlemen who have given us a good deal of frothy argument this evening, without much business basis in it, who is going to pay that bill?

3. (business) Highly speculative; having high risk and high return.
   • 1974, Australia. Parliament, Parliamentary Papers, page 297:

     But we have found it profitable to engage in some trading on our own account, generally in the rather frothy areas.

   • 2010, Bill Jordan, What's Wrong with Social Policy and How to Fix It, page 47:

     First, many of the welfare gains of the previous two decades or more turned out to have been illusory, as house and share prices tumbled, jobs disappeared and frothy investment opportunities collapsed.

   • 2013, H. Kent Baker, ‎Greg Filbeck, Alternative Investments:

     In such a “frothy” market, investors' interests would generally have been served by selling rather than purchasing assets—and, in fact, by returning committed capital to investors rather than deploying it, since acquisitions generally would not be accretive.

Synonyms

• (with bubbles): foamy, spumescent; see also Thesaurus:effervescent

Translations

foamy or churned

Bulgarian: пенест (bg) (penest) Czech: pěnivý Dutch: schuimig (nl), schuimend (nl) Finnish: vaahtoava, kuohuva French: mousseux (fr) Galician: escumoso m German: schaumig (de) Irish: sobalach Italian: spumoso m, spumeggiante (it) m or f Latin: spumeus Plautdietsch: schumich Portuguese: espumoso (pt) m Russian: взбитый (ru) (vzbityj) Swedish: skummande (sv) Yiddish: שוימיק‎ (shoymik)

lacking depth — See also translations at lightweight

Finnish: pinnallinen (fi)

Noun

frothy (plural frothies)

1. (Australia, slang, chiefly in the plural) A serving of beer.

Translations

slang: serving of beer

Finnish: huurteinen (fi)

Anagrams

• for thy, forthy