slobber

slobber

English

Etymology

From Middle English sloberen, borrowed from Middle Dutch slobberen (> Modern Dutch slobberen (“to slobber”)), related to West Frisian slobberje (“to slurp”), German Low German slubbern (“to slobber”). Doublet of slabber and slaver. Compare also German schlabbern (“to slobber”). Not related to English slob.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈslɒbə(ɹ)/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒbə(ɹ)

Noun

slobber (countable and uncountable, plural slobbers)

1. Liquid material, generally saliva, that dribbles or drools outward and downward from the mouth.

   There was dried slobber on his coat lapel.

2. Muddy or marshy land; mire.
3. (dated) A jellyfish.

Translations

saliva or liquid running from one's mouth

Bulgarian: лиги (bg) f pl (ligi) Finnish: kuola (fi) French: bave (fr) f German: Sabber (de), Geifer (de) Hungarian: nyál (hu) Portuguese: baba (pt)

Verb

slobber (third-person singular simple present slobbers, present participle slobbering, simple past and past participle slobbered)

1. To allow saliva or liquid to run from one's mouth.

   Synonyms: drool, slaver

   All babies slobber.

2. (colloquial) To kiss.
   • 1951, J. D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye, Little, Brown and Company, OCLC 287628, page 165:

     Finally, when they were all done slobbering around, old Sally introduced us.

Translations

to allow saliva or liquid to run from one's mouth

Bulgarian: лигавя се (ligavja se) Chinese: Cantonese: 流口水 (lau4 hau2 seoi2) Mandarin: 流口水 (liú kǒushuǐ) Czech: slintat (cs) Dutch: kwijlen (nl) Finnish: kuolata (fi) French: baver (fr) Galician: babar German: sabbern (de), geifern (de) Greek: σαλιαρίζω (el) (saliarízo) Hungarian: (of animals or helpless people) nyáladzik (hu), nyálzik (hu), (in all other cases) csorog​/​folyik​/​kicsordul a nyála Japanese: 涎を垂らす (ja) (yodare o tarasu) (literally "to dangle slobber") Maori: hāwareware Polish: ślinić się (pl) Portuguese: babar (pt) Romanian: saliva (ro), curge bale Russian: пуска́ть слюни (ru) (puskátʹ sljuni) Serbo-Croatian: balaviti (sh), sliniti (sh) Spanish: babear (es)

Derived terms

• slobbery

Anagrams

• lobbers