doom

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See also Doom, dom, Dom, DOM, and -dom

Contents

English [edit]

Etymology [edit]

From Old English dōm (“judgement”), cognate with Old Norse dómr, Swedish, Danish, and Norwegian "dom"

Pronunciation [edit]

Noun [edit]

doom (countable and uncountable; plural dooms)

  1. (countable, historical) A law.
    • 1915, Beatrice Adelaide Lees, Alfred the Great: the truth teller, maker of England, 848-899, page 211:
      "What ye will not that other men should do unto you, that do ye not unto other men." "From this one doom," comments Alfred, "a man may bethink him how he should judge every one rightly: he needs no other doombook."
  2. (countable, historical) A judgment or decision
    • 1861, Henry Sumner Maine, Ancient Law, page 22:
      Kings are spoken of as if they had a store of "Themistes" ready to hand for use; but it must be distinctly understood that they are not laws, but judgments, or, to take the exact Teutonic equivalent, "dooms."
    • 1915, Beatrice Adelaide Lees, Alfred the Great: the truth teller, maker of England, 848-899, page 208:
      when Alfred in turn set himself to the task of stating and interpreting the law of his kingdom, there were already precedents for him to follow, in the written "dooms" (domas) of his predecessors, — themselves but a small portion of the still unwritten custom
  3. (countable, historical) A sentence or penalty for an illegality or type of illegality.
    • 1828, John Erskine, An institute of the law of Scotland, page 989:
      Appeals were by our ancient law styled falsing of dooms. They were to be entered mmediately after doom or sentence was pronounced,
  4. Death; an adverse or terrible fate, end.
    They met an untimely doom when the mine shaft caved in.
    • 2009, Anne Kristin Stuart, Tangled lies:
      The engines were rumbling, missing every now and then, and Rachel leaned back in her seat, prepared to meet her doom somewhere over the Pacific. At least there was a priest at hand -- maybe she could entice him to hear a final confession.
  5. Destiny, especially adverse.
    • 2007, Billy Lee Brammer, “Fustian Days: Book One: Sonic Goddam Boom”, Southwest Review, volume 92, number 4, page 495: 
      "When should I expect him?" Roy said, resigned to his doom.
    • 2009 December 11, Karen Gormandy, “Robin Hood”, volume 59, number 8, page 4: 
      "After he takes the throne, you will be arrested." / "You lie like your master, Carfax. Your doom is sealed."
  6. An impending severe problem or danger that seems inevitable.
    • 2004, Arthur Miller, “The Turpentine Still”, Southwest Review, volume 89, number 4, page 479: 
      unlike Vincent, he wasn't quite taken in by the outbreak of hopefulness on all sides. After all, nothing about the tanks or the process had been resolved; an air of doom still hung undisturbed over the project.
    • 2007 February, Bob Bahr, “Tapestries in Oil”, American Artist, volume 71, number 773, page 45: 
      Such paintings are inherently moody, and Elliott likes that-even as he carefully avoids dictating a specific mood. "Yesterday I painted the last light of the day-the trees looked pink, and the mountain's shadow was coming over them. It created a feeling of nostalgia... or impending doom... or still, quiet, peacefulness. It depends on the viewer's feelings about the scene, not just mine."
    • 2009 April 27, Nate Davis, “After Lions^ gamble, lots of big men tapped”, USA Today, page 7C:
      Chung was the first of its four picks in Round 2. His arrival might spell doom for Rodney Harrison.
  7. A feeling of danger, impending danger, darkness or despair.
    • 2006, Sophie Jordan, Once upon a wedding night:
      She halted her pacing steps as the ugly significance of Nicholas Caulfield's pending arrival washed over her. Ruin. Destitution. Doom settled like a heavy stone in her chest.
    • 2007, Terry Kay, The Year the Lights Came on, page 204:
      Feeling doom, as we learned in the beautiful folk language of blacks who knew the truth of it, began with a single unexpected oddity — a redbird out of season, hail out of cloudless skies, dogs cowering under the house
    • 2008, Beverly Fincham, Real Life Freedom, page 25:
      I'm taking medications every day; never thinking I would be spiraling into nothing but a nightmare that made me feel doom.
    • 2009 March, Deanna Roy, “Forget the rules and make the leap”, Writer, volume 122, number 3, page 15: 
      Then the smiling narrator filled me with doom: I was expected to pull my own rip cord. I nearly fainted.
    • 2010‎ July 20, Mark Morford, “What to do when it all goes right”, San Francisco Chronicle:
      perhaps you do that most rare of things when reading the news: You grin, exhale, stop feeling doom in every crevasse and corner of your body.
  8. (sometimes capitalized) The Last Judgment; or, an artistic representation of it.

Derived terms [edit]

Translations [edit]

historical: law
historical: judgment or decision
historical: sentence or penalty
death
destiny, especially adverse
impending severe problem
feeling of danger
Last Judgment — see Last Judgment

Verb [edit]

doom (third-person singular simple present dooms, present participle dooming, simple past and past participle doomed)

  1. To pronounce sentence or judgment on; to condemn.
    a criminal doomed to death
    • Dryden
      Absolves the just, and dooms the guilty souls.
  2. To destine; to fix irrevocably the destiny or fate of; to appoint, as by decree or by fate.
    • Macaulay
      A man of genius […] doomed to struggle with difficulties.
  3. (obsolete) To judge; to estimate or determine as a judge.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Milton to this entry?)
  4. (obsolete) To ordain as a penalty; hence, to mulct or fine.
    • Shakespeare
      Have I tongue to doom my brother's death?
  5. (archaic, US, New England) To assess a tax upon, by estimate or at discretion.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of J. Pickering to this entry?)

Translations [edit]

to condemn

Anagrams [edit]

See also [edit]

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