blister
/ˈblɪstɚ/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.00 in modern English
9
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
2
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A small bubble between the layers of the skin that contains watery or bloody fluid and is caused by friction and pressure, burning, freezing, chemical irritation, disease, or infection.
Countable; Uncountable
noun
Something applied to the skin to raise a blister; a vesicatory or other applied medicine.
Countable; Uncountable
noun
An enclosed pocket of air, which may be mixed with water or solvent vapor, trapped between impermeable layers of felt or between the membrane and substrate.
Countable; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "Inspect them for rub marks and blisters; tape or bandage rub marks; clean the skin around a blister, use a sterilised needle to puncture it at its outer edge and press out the fluid, then bandage."
- "'T is written in the Hebrew Chronicle, / How the physicians, leaving pill and potion, / Prescribed, by way of blister, a young belle, / When old King David's blood grew dull in motion, / And that the medicine answered very well […]"
- "blister card"
- "blister pack"
- "I couldn't help thinking how dashed happy I could have contrived to be in this place if only Aunt Agatha and the other blisters had been elsewhere."
- "I will say, however, that we fanned her well — her and her old blister of a mother and a bewhiskered old goat named Boris."
Etymology
From Middle English blister, from Old French blestre, from a Germanic source. Compare Middle Dutch blyster (“swelling”), Old Norse blastr (“a blowing”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: blister, blestre
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈblɪstɚ/
- British English: /ˈblɪstə(ɹ)/