Blob

Pronunciation

• UK IPA: /blÉ’b/Rhymes: -É’b
• US IPA: /blÉ‘b/

Origin

Possibly formed through mimesis, similarly to bleb and blubber.

Full definition of blob

Noun

1. A shapeless or amorphous mass; a vague shape or amount, especially of a liquid or semisolid substance; a clump, group or collection that lacks definite shape.
• 1869: Norman Lockyer et al, NatureOnly the outermost blob on either side in map 2 displays misalignment.
• 1895: The Annual of the British School at AthensIt was a colourful vase with red and white hoops on the lid, and red bands above and below the main frieze. These bands also carry a metope pattern in white of triple lines and blobs, which can just be distinguished on the photographs.
• 1922, Virginia Woolf, Jacob's Room Chapter 1But there, on the very top, is a hollow full of water, with a sandy bottom; with a blob of jelly stuck to the side, and some mussels.
2. In astronomy, a large cloud of gas. In particular, an extended Lyman-Alpha blob is a huge body of gas that may be the precursor to a galaxy.http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/04/090422151828.htm
3. (dialect) A bubble, a bleb.
4. A small freshwater fish (Uranidea richardsoni); the miller's thumb.