Blister Meaning
/ˈblɪstə(ɹ)/Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounA 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.
nounA swelling on a plant.
Sentence Examples
My sunburn has started to blister.
A blister rose on one of her left fingers.
Synonyms & Antonyms
Synonyms:
Antonyms:
None
CEFR Practice Quiz
After walking all day in new shoes, a painful ____ developed on his heel.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
I got a small ____ on my heel after walking in my new shoes today.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English blister, from Old French blestre, from a Germanic source. Compare Middle Dutch blyster (“swelling”), Old Norse blastr (“a blowing”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"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."
— 1967, Donald Howard Grainger, Don't Die in the Bundu:
"'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 […]"
— 1819–1824, [Lord Byron], Don Juan, London, (please specify |canto=I to XVII):
"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."
— 1923, Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, The Inimitable Jeeves, page 39:
"I will say, however, that we fanned her well — her and her old blister of a mother and a bewhiskered old goat named Boris."
— 1933, Collier's Illustrated Weekly, volume 91, page 14:
"'We mustn't laugh about it, my boy. It's no joking matter. It's very wrong to shoot Mr Baxter.'
'But he's a blister.'
'He is a blister,' agreed Lord Emsworth, always fairminded. 'Nevertheless. . . . Remember, he is your tutor.'"
— 2013, P.G. Wodehouse, Blandings: TV Tie-In, page 126:
Explore More C1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
After walking all day in new shoes, a painful ____ developed on his heel.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
I got a small ____ on my heel after walking in my new shoes today.