popcorn

Pluralpopcorns (some meanings)

Formspopcorns, popcorning, popcorned

1. 1
   noununcountable

   A snack food made from corn kernels that burst open and puff up when dried and heated.

   She sprinkled salt and melted butter over the freshly popped popcorn.

   Movie theaters sell popcorn by the bucket at the concession stand.

   Note

   The snack every other meaning borrows from: the word is a clipping of popped corn, though it reads just as naturally as pop plus corn. As a mass noun it normally takes no plural: you eat some popcorn, a bowl of popcorn, a bucket of it. The countable uses, a serving at the counter and a single kernel, branch off from this one.

2. 2
   nouncountable

   An individual portion or serving of the popped corn snack, as bought or shared.

   He bought a large popcorn at the concession stand before the film.

   We split two popcorns between the four of us.

   Note

   Concession-stand English, where the word turns countable the way coffee and soda do when you order them. It shows up in tallies with drinks and tickets, such as two popcorns and two sodas or two popcorns and two Cokes. It also takes size words: a large popcorn. A lawyer's dismissal of a settlement as "two popcorns and two Cokes" shows how naturally it stands for a trivial cinema-night sum.

3. 3
   nounrarecountable

   An individual popped kernel of the corn snack.

   A single popcorn stuck stubbornly to the bottom of the bowl.

   Sarani threw a few popcorns into her mouth.

   2010, Sripali Vaiamon, “Conflicts in Religions and a Tidal Wave”

   Similarkernel

   Note

   A rare count use, and one to handle carefully: in many contexts popcorns will be heard as servings, so a piece of popcorn or a kernel is the safer choice. Where it does occur, it often comes with throwing or flicking, as in throwing popcorns to gulls or into one's mouth. The Lok Sabha Debates of 1992 even build a figure on it: "throwing popcorns before a hungry elephant."

4. 4
   noununcountable

   A variety of corn with a hard outer hull and a starch type that together make its kernels suitable for popping.

   Unlike sweet corn, popcorn is bred specifically for kernels that explode when heated.

   Growers harvest popcorn in the fall and dry the ears before shelling.

   Note

   The farmer's and the seed-grower's sense: the grain itself, in the field or the sack, before any heat touches it. The same word covers the raw crop and the finished snack, so context does the sorting. Popcorn growing in rows is this sense, and popcorn in a bowl is the other. Popmaize serves as a synonym for both.

5. 5
   nounhumorouscountable or uncountable

   Entertainment derived from watching a dispute or dramatic situation unfold as an uninvolved outsider.

   The online feud quickly became popcorn for thousands of amused onlookers.

   For viewers with no stake in the outcome, the messy breakup was sheer popcorn.

   Similarentertainment, spectacle, theater

   Note

   A joke built on the picture of an onlooker settling in with a snack while others fight. It is often prefixed with whatever supplies the show, as when CGP Grey predicted "plenty more Supreme Court popcorn" in 2020. The humor depends on the speaker standing outside the quarrel. Aimed at someone who is actually in the fight, it reads as mockery.

6. 6
   verbintransitive

   To produce a rapid series of popping sounds, the way kernels do while cooking.

   Distant fireworks popcorn over the harbor every summer night.

   The oil grew hot, and the kernels began to popcorn against the lid.

   Similarpop, crackle, crack

7. 7
   verbintransitive

   To rise or jump up suddenly and quickly from a resting position.

   Fans popcorn to their feet whenever the home team scores.

   She popcorned out of bed the instant the alarm sounded.

   Similarjump, leap, spring, shoot, bound

   Note

   A pet-keeper's verb, used above all of guinea pigs and chinchillas. Dale L. Sigler's A Grown-up's Guide to Guinea Pigs (2000) describes the movement: the animal runs fast, then leaps straight up, twitching and squeaking, before dashing off again. The -ing form does much of the work as a noun, as in popcorning behavior. Owners use it to name a display that can alarm anyone who has never seen it.

8. 8
   nouncountable or uncountablebefore a noun

   A style of brainstorming in which participants call out ideas the moment they occur, rather than waiting for an assigned turn to speak.

   The facilitator switched to popcorn to keep the energy high during the session.

   In popcorn, the loudest voices sometimes drown out quieter team members.

   Note

   Workshop and classroom vocabulary, used mostly as a modifier: popcorn brainstorming, the popcorn method. The image is of kernels bursting unpredictably, one after another, much like the verb for repeated popping. In practice a facilitator writes each idea on a flip chart as it is called out. The method still needs one person keeping order while everyone else speaks freely.

   We started with ten minutes of popcorn brainstorming before ranking the ideas.

   The popcorn method works best when someone is ready to write fast.

9. 9
   nouncountable or uncountable

   A raised, clustered stitch in knitting or crochet, similar to a bobble, that forms a small bump on the fabric.

   The sweater's yoke is decorated with neat rows of popcorn.

   Crocheters often use popcorn to add texture to otherwise plain panels.

   Similarbobble

   Note

   A knitter's and crocheter's term, named for the little puffed bump it raises on the fabric. Pattern books treat it as a sibling of the bobble rather than a synonym. Claire Compton and Sue Whiting's The Knitting and Crochet Bible (2008) sets "four stitch popcorns" beside "five stitch bobbles" in one sample. As that phrasing shows, the stitch is usually specified by how many stitches go into it.

10. 10
    nouncountable or uncountable

    A kind of slow soul music that came from Belgium and was popular in the early 1960s.

    Belgian collectors still hunt for rare popcorn on original vinyl.

    The festival devoted a whole stage to popcorn and other vintage soul.

    Note

    One of two unrelated music styles that share the name. This one is Belgian, slow and soul-based, and belongs to the early 1960s. The Romanian Europop style comes from the late 2000s. Country and decade are the quickest way to tell which one a speaker means.

11. 11
    nouncountable or uncountable

    A kind of Europop that came from Romania and was popular in the late 2000s.

    Romanian radio was saturated with popcorn throughout the late 2000s.

    Many of these singers got their start making popcorn for the club market.

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