leme

See also: Leme, lemé, and lëmë

English

Alternative forms

• leam, leem

Etymology

From Middle English leem, leme, leam, from Old English lēoma (“light, brightness”); akin to light.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /liːm/
• Rhymes: -iːm

Noun

leme (plural lemes)

1. (obsolete) A ray or glimmer of light; a gleam.
   • 1387–1400, Geoffrey Chaucer, “The Tale of the Nonnes Preest”, in The Canterbury Tales, [Westminster: William Caxton, published 1478], →OCLC; republished in [William Thynne], editor, The Workes of Geffray Chaucer Newlye Printed, […], [London]: […] [Richard Grafton for] Iohn Reynes […], 1542, →OCLC:

     Firis with red lemes.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • 1531, Thomas Elyot, edited by Ernest Rhys, The Boke Named the Governour […] (Everyman’s Library), London: J[oseph] M[alaby] Dent & Co; New York, N.Y.: E[dward] P[ayson] Dutton & Co, published [1907], →OCLC:

     Thereby the incomprehensible majestie of God, as it were by a bright leme of a torch or candle, is declared to the blinde inhabitants of this world.

Verb

leme (third-person singular simple present lemes, present participle leming, simple past and past participle lemed)

1. (obsolete, intransitive) To shine.

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “leme”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)

Anagrams

• LEEM, mele

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Farefare

Etymology

Cognate with Moore leemse (“to taste”)

Pronunciation

/lè.mè/

Verb

leme (imperfect lemnɩ, lɛmna)

1. to taste

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Galician

Etymology

Obscure. Perhaps from Basque lema, ultimately from Latin temō. Alternatively, from a Germanic origin.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈlɛme̝/

Noun

leme m (plural s)

1. (nautical) rudder (underwater vane used to steer a vessel)

   Synonym: temón

2. (aeronautics) rudder (control surface of an aircraft)

   Synonym: temón

3. (figurative) good judgement

   Synonyms: sentidiño, xuízo

References

• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, editor (2006–2013), “leme”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega [Dictionary of Dictionaries of the Galician language] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, editors (2003–2018), “leme”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Rosario Álvarez Blanco, editor (2014–2024), “leme”, in Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega, →ISSN

Further reading

• leme on the Galician Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^gl

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Middle Dutch

Etymology

From Old Dutch *limu, from Proto-Germanic *limuz.

Noun

leme f

1. fishbone
2. (generally prickly) stalk or other part of a plant

Inflection

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

Descendants

• Dutch: leem

Further reading

• “leme”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
• Verwijs, E., Verdam, J. (1885–1929) “leme (II)”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, →ISBN, page II

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Middle English

Noun

leme (plural lemes)

1. Alternative form of lyme

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Portuguese

Etymology

Unknown.

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈlẽ.mi/

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈlẽ.mi/
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈle.me/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈlɛ.mɨ/

• IPA^(key): /ˈle.me/
• Hyphenation: le‧me

Noun

leme m (plural lemes)

1. (nautical) rudder (underwater vane used to steer a vessel)
2. (aeronautics) rudder (control surface of an aircraft)

Derived terms

• leme de direção
• leme de profundidade
• leme horizontal
• leme vertical
• perder o leme