Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A local swelling of the skin that contains watery fluid and is caused by burning or irritation.
  • noun A similar swelling on a plant.
  • noun A raised bubble, as on a painted or laminated surface.
  • noun A rounded, bulging, usually transparent structure, such as one used for observation on certain aircraft or for display and protection of packaged products.
  • intransitive verb To cause a blister to form on.
  • intransitive verb To reprove harshly.
  • intransitive verb To break out in or as if in blisters.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To raise a blister or blisters on, as by a burn, medical application, or friction: as, to blister one's hands.
  • To raise filmy vesicles on by heat: as, too high a temperature will blister paint; blistered steel. See blister-steel.
  • Figuratively, to cause to suffer as if from blisters; subject to burning shame or disgrace.
  • To rise in blisters, or become blistered.
  • noun A thin vesicle on the skin, containing watery matter or serum, whether occasioned by a burn or other injury, by a vesicatory, or by disease; a pustule.
  • noun An elevation made by the lifting up of an external film or skin by confined air or fluid, as on plants, or by the swelling of the substance at the surface, as on steel.
  • noun Something applied to the skin to raise a blister, as a plaster of Spanish flies, mustard, etc., as a means of counter-irritation; a vesicatory.
  • noun In castings of different materials, an effect caused by the presence of confined bubbles of air or gas.
  • noun A distortion of peach-leaves caused by the fungus Exoascus deformans; bladder-blight. See Exoascus. Also called blistering.
  • noun A swelling on a metal plate; a bag.
  • noun A young oyster.
  • noun In photography, a defect in a plate or on a paper in the process of coating with gelatin, albumin, or collodion.
  • noun In glass-making, a defect in the glass caused by the retention of gas-bubbles formed during the melting.
  • noun A common disease of pear-leaves produced by a mite, Phytoptus pyri, commonly called the pear-leaf blister mite. Each blister is a swelling of the leaf, producing a cavity in which the mites are found.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • intransitive verb To be affected with a blister or blisters; to have a blister form on.
  • noun 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.
  • noun 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.
  • noun A vesicatory; a plaster of Spanish flies, or other matter, applied to raise a blister.
  • noun a beetle used to raise blisters, esp. the Lytta vesicatoria (or Cantharis vesicatoria), called Cantharis or Spanish fly by druggists. See Cantharis.
  • noun a blister beetle.
  • noun a plaster designed to raise a blister; -- usually made of Spanish flies.
  • noun crude steel formed from wrought iron by cementation; -- so called because of its blistered surface. Called also blistered steel.
  • noun See under Blood.
  • transitive verb To raise a blister or blisters upon.
  • transitive verb To give pain to, or to injure, as if by a blister.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • 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.
  • noun A swelling on a plant.
  • noun medicine Something applied to the skin to raise a blister; a vesicatory or other applied medicine.
  • noun A bubble, as on a painted surface.
  • noun roofing 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.
  • verb To cause blisters to form.
  • verb transitive To criticise severely.
  • verb intransitive To break out in blisters.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun (botany) a swelling on a plant similar to that on the skin
  • verb cause blisters to form on
  • verb subject to harsh criticism
  • noun a flaw on a surface resulting when an applied substance does not adhere (as an air bubble in a coat of paint)
  • verb get blistered
  • noun (pathology) an elevation of the skin filled with serous fluid

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, probably from Old French blestre, of Germanic origin.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old French blestre.

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Examples

  • Remember how Accutane came in blister packs, and the no-pregnancy symbols on the back of _every_ _single_ _blister_?

    One Bright Star (1B*) Reignited 2006

  • I buy the Raid in blister packs of three at Costco.

    Now it's Dengue/Breakbone Fever 2009

  • But plastic wrapped things, shrink-wrapped items, equipment sold in blister packs or sealed in a stiff transparent plastic, those we did not have … much.

    The Plastics Revolution « Colleen Anderson 2010

  • I buy the Raid in blister packs of three at Costco.

    Now it's Dengue/Breakbone Fever 2009

  • I buy the Raid in blister packs of three at Costco.

    Now it's Dengue/Breakbone Fever 2009

  • I buy the Raid in blister packs of three at Costco.

    Now it's Dengue/Breakbone Fever 2009

  • Not much pain, though the newish blister is tender.

    Ketchup : Bev Vincent 2008

  • Since Mexican meds come in blister packs that don't come out to 30 or 60 resign yourself to loosing reimbursement on the couple extra pills.

    Page 2 2005

  • Since Mexican meds come in blister packs that don't come out to 30 or 60 resign yourself to loosing reimbursement on the couple extra pills.

    Page 2 2005

  • Since Mexican meds come in blister packs that don't come out to 30 or 60 resign yourself to loosing reimbursement on the couple extra pills.

    Page 2 2005

Comments

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  • Well, I never see anything like that old blister for clean out-and-out cheek. HF 29

    December 7, 2006

  • The Mrs. kr. Mr.

    Then how her Mr. kr.!

    He kr. kr. kr.

    Until he raised a blr.

    The blr. killed his Mrs.

    Then how he mr. krs.!

    His heartsick reminrs.

    Felt like spiritual abrs.

    He mr. mr. mr.

    Until he kr. sr.

    And though hrs. did insr.

    Place be shamed, he did assr.

    Since her doubts have not dismr.

    From the place of her dear sr.

    Now he covers her with krs.

    In the memory of his mrs.

    (from "The Futility Closet" website)

    February 10, 2009