latheryadj.
/ˈlɑːðəri/, /ˈlaðəri/, U.S. /ˈlæðəri/ Consisting of or covered with, or as with, lather. Also of a horse: Covered with foam. Chiefly figurative, ‘frothy’, unsubstantial.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > importance > unimportance > [adjective] > insubstantial
thin?c1225
lighta1413
superficiala1425
sleevelessc1450
frivolous1549
frothy1593
windy1593
shallow1594
airy1600
ghostlessa1603
sleazy1648
tenuious1656
wishy-washy1693
gauzy1774
lathery1803
wish-washy1814
tenuousa1817
toy1821
flimsy1827
airy-fairy1857
facile1857
feeblish1882
popcorn1973
the world > matter > gas > gas or air in liquid or effervescence > [adjective] > full of or covered with foam or froth
foamyOE
foaminga1400
spumingc1400
frothy?1531
spurging1566
fretting1567
fuming1598
white-mouthed1598
frory1600
yeastya1616
frothed1616
frothing1628
lathering1630
mantling1633
sudding1633
spumeous1635
spewy1743
spooming1818
despumatious1819
yeastinga1821
creaming1825
spumous1854
frothsome1880
lathery1880
bubblesome1946
1803 W. Taylor in Ann. Rev. 1 399 A certain lathery tautology which makes a mouthful of breath into a cisternful of sud.
1819 R. Southey Select. from Lett. (1856) III. 150 Having set aside a paper..to substitute a lathery composition of his own.
1880 R. D. Blackmore Mary Anerley I. xvii. 273 Sluicing, and wringing, and rinsing went on, over the bubbled and lathery turf.
1890 B. Perry Broughton Ho. xiii. 271 (Funk) The horse was lathery from his ten miles of uphill work.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1902; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.1803