popcorns

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of popcorn.

   The festival booth offered a dozen flavored popcorns side by side.

   Caramel and cheddar popcorns disappeared fastest from the snack table.

   Note

   A plural that exists only where popcorn can be counted. As the snack or as the corn grown for popping, the word is a mass noun, so everyday English says some popcorn, not popcorns. The plural belongs to the countable uses: servings, single pieces (rarely), the bobble-like stitch, rounds of call-out brainstorming, and, on a snack table, different flavors.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present indicative of popcorn.

   A healthy young guinea pig often popcorns, leaping straight up and twisting in midair.

   Her guinea pig popcorns around the playpen as soon as it smells fresh hay.

   Note

   The -s form of a verb made from the noun. It shares its spelling with the countable plural, and context tells them apart. A singular subject that popcorns either springs up quickly, pops again and again like kernels in a hot pan, or, in rare craft usage, is worked in the popcorn stitch.

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