See Also: Foam(medicine)
foam(2)(dictionary)
foam(1)(dictionary)
sea foam(medicine)
foam cells(medicine)
foam cell(medicine)
fibrin foam(medicine)
foam 1, noun(dictionary)
foam 2, verb(dictionary)
foam stability test(medicine)

foam(1) (iou)



foam noun.
[Old English fam = Old & mod. High German feim, from West Germanic from Indo-European, rel. to Latin pumex PUMICE noun and spuma SPUME noun.]
A mass of small bubbles formed on the surface of water or another liquid by agitation, fermentation, etc. OE.
L. Durrell The sighing of the waves as they thickened into roundels of foam. I. McEwan The white foam burst from the bottle's neck.
b. Foaming saliva issuing from the mouth; froth of perspiration on the coat of an animal. OE.
c. Foam for smothering fire, produced by adding a chemical agent to water or by other means; a chemical agent used in producing such foam. E20.
Foaming water, the sea. arch. OE.
Rubber or plastic solidified in a lightweight cellular mass with many small gas bubbles. Also foam rubber, foam plastic, etc. M20.
Comb.: foamback adjective & noun (a fabric etc.) backed by a thin layer of synthetic foam; foam extinguisher a fire extinguisher generating a mass of foam; foam flower any of various N. American plants of the genus Tiarella, of the saxifrage family; esp. T. cordifolia, grown for its feathery racemes of small white or reddish flowers; foam plastic, foam rubber: see sense 3 above.
foamless adjective E19.