Adjacent Words

Blister definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

BLIS'TER, n.
1. A pustule; a thin bladder on the skin, containing watery matter or serum, whether occasioned by a burn, or other injury, or by a vesicatory. It is formed by raising the cuticle.
2. Any tumor made by the separation of the film or skin, as on plants; or by the swelling of the substance at the surface, as on steel.
3. A vesicatory; a plaster of flies, or other matter, applied to raise a vesicle.
BLIS'TER, v.t. To rise in blisters.
BLIS'TER, v.t. To raise a blister, by any hurt, burn or violent action upon the skin; to raise a blister by a medical application, or vesicatory.
1. To raise tumors on iron bars in a furnace, in the process of converting iron into steel.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a flaw on a surface resulting when an applied substance does not adhere (as an air bubble in a coat of paint)
2: (botany) a swelling on a plant similar to that on the skin
3: (pathology) an elevation of the skin filled with serous fluid [syn: blister, bulla, bleb] v
1: get blistered; "Her feet blistered during the long hike" [syn: blister, vesicate]
2: subject to harsh criticism; "The Senator blistered the administration in his speech on Friday"; "the professor scaled the students"; "your invectives scorched the community" [syn: blister, scald, whip]
3: cause blisters to form on; "the tight shoes and perspiration blistered her feet"

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Etymology: Middle English blister, blester, probably from Old English *blýster, *bl?ster; akin to Old Norse bl?str swelling, Old English bl?st blast Date: 14th century 1. an elevation of the epidermis containing watery liquid 2. an enclosed raised spot (as in paint) resembling a blister 3. an agent (as lewisite) that causes blistering 4. a fungal disease of plants marked by raised patches on the leaves 5. any of various structures that bulge out (as a gunner's compartment on a bomber) • blistery adjective II. verb (blistered; blistering) Date: 15th century intransitive verb to become affected with a blister transitive verb 1. to raise a blister on 2. lambaste 2

Britannica Concise

Rounded skin elevation in which fluid fills a separation between layers of epidermis or between the epidermis and the dermis. The fluid is usually clear; yellowish fluid contains pus, and red fluid contains blood. Blisters often occur on the palms or soles when pressure and friction cause an upper skin layer to move back and forth over the one under it. A small gap opens between them and becomes filled with fluid. This type generally heals spontaneously, sometimes leaving a thickened callus. Blisters that occur as symptoms of contact dermatitis, viral infection, or autoimmune disease can appear anywhere on the body and may leave scars.

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. & v. --n. 1 a small bubble on the skin filled with serum and caused by friction, burning, etc. 2 a similar swelling on any other surface. 3 Med. anything applied to raise a blister. 4 sl. an annoying person. --v. 1 tr. raise a blister on. 2 intr. come up in a blister or blisters. 3 tr. attack sharply (blistered them with his criticisms). Phrases and idioms: blister copper copper which is almost pure. blister gas a poison gas causing blisters on the skin. blister pack a bubble pack. Derivatives: blistery adj. Etymology: ME perh. f. OF blestre, blo(u)stre swelling, pimple

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Blister Blis"ter, v. t. 1. To raise a blister or blisters upon. My hands were blistered. --Franklin. 2. To give pain to, or to injure, as if by a blister. This tyrant, whose sole name blisters our tongue. --Shak.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Blister Blis"ter, n. [OE.; akin to OD. bluyster, fr. the same root as blast, bladder, blow. See Blow to eject wind.] 1. A vesicle of the skin, containing watery matter or serum, whether occasioned by a burn or other injury, or by a vesicatory; a collection of serous fluid causing a bladderlike elevation of the cuticle. And painful blisters swelled my tender hands. --Grainger. 2. Any elevation made by the separation of the film or skin, as on plants; or by the swelling of the substance at the surface, as on steel. 3. A vesicatory; a plaster of Spanish flies, or other matter, applied to raise a blister. --Dunglison. Blister beetle, a beetle used to raise blisters, esp. the Lytta (or Cantharis) vesicatoria, called Cantharis or Spanish fly by druggists. See Cantharis. Blister fly, a blister beetle. Blister plaster, a plaster designed to raise a blister; -- usually made of Spanish flies. Blister steel, crude steel formed from wrought iron by cementation; -- so called because of its blistered surface. Called also blistered steel. Blood blister. See under Blood.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Blister Blis"ter, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Blistered; p. pr. & vb. n. Blistering.] To be affected with a blister or blisters; to have a blister form on. Let my tongue blister. --Shak.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(blisters, blistering, blistered) 1. A blister is a painful swelling on the surface of your skin. Blisters contain a clear liquid and are usually caused by heat or by something repeatedly rubbing your skin. N-COUNT 2. When your skin blisters or when something blisters it, blisters appear on it. The affected skin turns red and may blister... The sap of this plant blisters the skin. ...pausing to bathe their blistered feet. VERB: V, V n, V-ed

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. n. 1. Vesicle, pustule, blain, bleb, blob. 2. Puffy film, bleb, blob, air-bubble. 3. Vesicatory, vesicant, blistering plaster, sinapism. II. v. a. Raise blisters on, vesicate. III. v. n. Rise in blisters, form vesicles or blebs.

Moby Thesaurus

abscess, air bubble, aposteme, assail, attack, balloon, bed sore, bilge, birthmark, blackhead, bladder, blain, blaze, bleb, blemish, blob, blood blister, boil, boss, bow, brand, bubble, bubo, bulb, bulge, bulla, bump, bunch, bunion, burl, burn, burn in, burn off, button, cahot, canker, canker sore, carbuncle, cast, castigate, cauterize, chancre, chancroid, char, check, chilblain, chine, cicatrix, clump, coal, cold sore, comedo, condyle, convex, crack, crater, craze, cupel, defacement, defect, deformation, deformity, disfiguration, disfigurement, distortion, dowel, ear, eschar, excoriate, fault, felon, fester, festering, fever blister, fistula, flame, flange, flap, flaw, flay, found, freckle, furuncle, furunculus, fustigate, gall, gathering, globule, gnarl, gumboil, handle, hemangioma, hemorrhoids, hickey, hill, hump, hunch, jog, joggle, keloid, kibe, kink, knob, knot, knur, knurl, lash, lentigo, lesion, lip, loop, lump, milium, mole, mountain, needle scar, nevus, nub, nubbin, nubble, oxidate, oxidize, papilloma, papula, papule, parch, paronychia, parulis, peg, petechia, piles, pimple, pit, pock, pockmark, polyp, port-wine mark, port-wine stain, pustule, pyrolyze, rib, ridge, rift, ring, rising, roast, scab, scar, scarify, scathe, scorch, scourge, scratch, sear, sebaceous cyst, shoulder, singe, skin alive, slash, soap bubble, soft chancre, solder, sore, spine, split, stigma, strawberry mark, stud, sty, style, suppuration, swelling, swinge, tab, torrefy, track, trounce, tubercle, tubercule, twist, ulcer, ulceration, verruca, vesicate, vesicle, vulcanize, wale, warp, wart, weal, weld, welt, wen, wheal, whelk, whitehead, whitlow, wound