Globs

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A large, often rounded mass of a viscous substance that lacks a definite shape
2. A clump or blob of material that is typically sticky or gelatinous in nature
3. A smudge or mass of material that can vary in size and consistency, often appearing thick and irregular

Etymology: "Globs" is the plural of "glob," a noun for a clump or blob of something sticky or gelatinous. The noun's exact origin is uncertain: it may be a blend of "blob" and "gob," or a shortening of "globule." Much of its appeal comes from sound symbolism, the way its sounds seem to match its shape. It sits in a family of similar-sounding words such as "glop," "gob," "lob," "blob," "lump," "clump," and "clod," all of which suggest heavy, shapeless masses. The most surprising twist is that the word later took on a completely different life in computing. Around 1970, a Unix command named "glob" was created as a clipping of "global," used to match filenames by pattern. Programmers then borrowed the term for the wildcard matching itself, so a word for a gooey lump gained a second meaning in the language of command lines.

Synonyms: clumps, lumps, masses, clots, chunks

Antonyms: particles, bits, fragments, drops, shreds