Definition of "foam"

A substance composed of a large collection of bubbles or their solidified remains, especially:  quotations

1. A collection of small bubbles created when the surface of a body of water is moved by tides, wind, etc.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • ’Tis thou that rigg’st the bark and plough’st the foam,

     c. 1605–1608, William Shakespeare, “The Life of Tymon of Athens”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act V, scene i]

   • The breezes blew, the white foam flew, / The furrow follow’d free: / We were the first that ever burst / Into that silent Sea.

     1798, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner in Lyrical Ballads, London: J. & A. Arch, p. 12

   • And the heaven became livid with the violence of the tempest […] and the river was tormented into foam […]

     1838, Edgar Allan Poe, “Siope”, in Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque‎, volume 2, Philadelphia: Lea and Blanchard, published 1840, page 22

   • Many [of the fish-traps] were full of fish that raised foam as they splashed about.

     1969, Elechi Amadi, chapter 5, in The Great Ponds,‎, London: Heinemann, published 1970, page 45

2. A collection of small bubbles formed from bodily fluids such as saliva or sweat.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • “Again. Tell it again!” cried Fagin, tightening his grasp on Sikes, and brandishing his other hand aloft as the foam flew from his lips.

     1838, Boz [pseudonym; Charles Dickens], Oliver Twist; or, The Parish Boy’s Progress. […], volumes (please specify |volume=I, II, or III), London: Richard Bentley, […], page 190

   • The horses were flecked with foam and their breathing was noisy.

     1954, C. S. Lewis, chapter 9, in The Horse and His Boy‎, London: Collins, published 1974, page 118

3. A collection of small bubbles on the surface of a liquid that is heated, fermented or carbonated.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • a quart jug with a crown of foam upon itsee it online

     1859, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], chapter 21, in Adam Bede […], volume II, Edinburgh, London: William Blackwood and Sons, book second, page 122

   • The last of the milk vanished in a swirl of foam and gurgling.

     1938, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, chapter 15, in The Yearling‎, New York: Scribner, page 174

   • It was a very good palm-wine and powerful, for in spite of the palm fruit hung across the mouth of the pot to restrain the lively liquor, white foam rose and spilled over.

     1958, Chinua Achebe, chapter 8, in Things Fall Apart, New York: Astor-Honor, published 1959, part 1, page 74

   • A slender thread of soft-drink foam traced her upper lip;

     1988, Anne Tyler, Breathing Lessons‎, New York: Viking, Part 2, p. 167

4. A collection of small bubbles created by mixing soap with water.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • […] she concentrated on the foam in the sink, tempering the water.

     1964, Saul Bellow, Herzog‎, New York: Viking, page 255

   • Later we shared a bath with foam up to our ears, like they always discreetly have in films.

     1988, Alan Hollinghurst, chapter 7, in The Swimming-Pool Library, paperback edition, London: Penguin Books, page 163

5. (firefighting) A collection of small bubbles formed by mixing an extinguishing agent with water, used to cover and extinguish fires.  examples

A material formed by trapping pockets of gas in a liquid or solid.  examples

(figuratively, poetic) The sea.  quotations  examples

Fury.  examples

(intransitive) To form or emit foam.  quotations  examples

(intransitive) To spew saliva as foam; to foam at the mouth.  quotations  examples

(firefighting) To coat or cover with foam.  examples