brim

See also: Brim

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bɹɪm/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪm

Etymology 1

From Middle English brim, from Old English brim (“surf, flood, wave, sea, ocean, water, sea-edge, shore”), from Proto-Germanic *brimą (“turbulence, surge; surf, sea”), from Proto-Germanic *bremaną (“to roar”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰrem-, *bʰerem-, *bʰrem(e)-, *breme- (“to hum, make a noise”). Cognate with Icelandic brim (“sea, surf”), Old English brymm, brym (“sea, waves”), Old English bremman (“to rage, roar”), Dutch brommen (“to hum, buzz”), German brummen (“to hum, drone”), Latin fremō (“roar, growl”, verb), Ancient Greek βρέμω (brémō, “roar, roar like the ocean”, verb).

Noun

brim (plural brims)

1. (obsolete) The sea; ocean; water; flood.

Derived terms

• brimsand

Etymology 2

From Middle English brim, brem, brimme (“margin, edge of a river, lake, or sea”), probably from Middle English brim (“sea, ocean, surf, shore”). See above. Cognate with Dutch berm (“bank, riverbank”), Bavarian Bräm (“border, stripe”), German Bräme, Brame (“border, edge”), Danish bræmme (“border, edge, brim”), Swedish bräm (“border, edge”), Icelandic barmur (“edge, verge, brink”). Related to berm.

Noun

brim (plural brims)

1. An edge or border (originally specifically of the sea or a body of water).
   • Bible, Josh. iii. 15

     The feet of the priest that bare the ark were dipped in the brim of the water.

2. The topmost rim or lip of a container.

   The toy box was filled to the brim with stuffed animals.

   • Coleridge:

     Saw I that insect on this goblet's brim / I would remove it with an anxious pity.

3. A projecting rim, especially of a hat.

   He turned the back of his brim up stylishly.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Wordsworth to this entry?)

Derived terms

• to the brim

Translations

an edge or border (originally specifically of the sea or a body of water)

• Bulgarian: край (bg) m (kraj), бряг (bg) m (brjag)
• Catalan: vora (ca) f
• Czech: okraj (cs) m
• Dutch: rand (nl), boord (nl)
• Finnish: laita (fi)

• Galician: beira (gl) f, aba (gl) f
• Hungarian: szél (hu)
• Italian: bordo (it) m
• Portuguese: aba (pt) f
• Scottish Gaelic: oir f

the topmost rim or lip of a container

• Bulgarian: ръб (bg) m (rǎb)
• Czech: hrana (cs) f, okraj (cs) m
• Dutch: rand (nl)
• Finnish: lieri (fi)
• Galician: beira (gl) f, beiril m, canto (gl) m, borda f, borne m, arengo (gl) m
• Greek:

  Ancient Greek: χεῖλος n (kheîlos)

• Hungarian: szél (hu), száj (hu)

• Italian: bordo (it) m, orlo (it) m
• Portuguese: boca (pt) f
• Russian: край (ru) m (kraj)
• Scottish Gaelic: oir f
• Sicilian: orlu (scn) m, orru (scn) m
• Spanish: borde (es) m
• Swedish: brädd (sv) c

a projecting rim, especially of a hat

• Bulgarian: периферия (bg) f (periferija)
• Czech: krempa f
• Dutch: rand (nl)
• Finnish: lieri (fi), lippa (fi)
• Galician: aba (gl) f
• German: Krempe (de) f
• Greek: γύρος (el) m (gýros), μπορ (el) n (bor)
• Hungarian: karima (hu)
• Italian: falda (it) f, tesa (it) f

• Norwegian: brem m
• Portuguese: aba (pt) f, rebordo m
• Russian: поля́ (ru) n pl (poljá)
• Scottish Gaelic: bile f
• Sicilian: careddu (scn) m
• Spanish: ala (es) f
• Swahili: ukingo (sw)
• Swedish: brätte (sv) n
• Ukrainian: кри́си (uk) c pl (krýsy), поля́ m pl, n pl (poljá)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Korean: 테 (te), 테두리 (teduri), 가 (ga), 가장자리 (gajangjari)

Verb

brim (third-person singular simple present brims, present participle brimming, simple past and past participle brimmed)

1. (intransitive) To be full to overflowing.

   The room brimmed with people.

   • 2006 New York Times

     It was a hint of life in a place that still brims with memories of death, a reminder that even five years later, the attacks are not so very distant.

   • 2011 July 3, Piers Newbury, “Wimbledon 2011: Novak Djokovic beats Rafael Nadal in final”, in BBC Sport‎^[1]:

     Djokovic, brimming with energy and confidence, needed little encouragement and came haring in to chase down a drop shot in the next game, angling away the backhand to break before turning to his supporters to celebrate.

2. (transitive) To fill to the brim, upper edge, or top.
   • Tennyson:

     Arrange the board and brim the glass.

Translations

to be full to overflowing

• Bulgarian: напълвам догоре (napǎlvam dogore)
• Dutch: overlopen (nl)
• Finnish: olla täynnä
• Hebrew: גדוש‎ m (gadush)

• Hungarian: csordultig telt
• Italian: traboccare (it), essere colmo, essere pieno zeppo
• Russian: наполня́ться до краёв (napolnjátʹsja do krajóv)
• Sicilian: èssiri curmu, èssiri accucucciatu, (vase) pranciri (scn), (vase) papariari (scn), (vase) èssiri mpampanatu

to fill to the brim, upper edge, or top

• Dutch: tot de rand toe vullen

Etymology 3

Either from breme, or directly from Old English bremman (“to roar, rage”) (though not attested in Middle English).

Verb

brim (third-person singular simple present brims, present participle brimming, simple past and past participle brimmed)

1. Of pigs: to be in heat, to rut.

Etymology 4

See breme.

Adjective

brim (comparative more brim, superlative most brim)

1. (obsolete) Fierce; sharp; cold.

Anagrams

• IBMR, IRBM

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Old English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /brim/

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *brimą.

Noun

brim n

1. (poetic) the edge of the sea or a body of water
2. (poetic) surf; the surface of the sea
3. (poetic) sea, ocean, water

Declension

Declension of brim (strong a-stem)

Case	Singular	Plural
nominative	brim	brimu
accusative	brim	brimu
genitive	brimes	brima
dative	brime	brimum

Derived terms

• brimlīþend

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Old Norse

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *brimą.

Noun

brim n

1. surf

Declension

  Declension of brim (strong a-stem)

neuter	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	brim	brimit	brim	brimin
accusative	brim	brimit	brim	brimin
dative	brimi	briminu	brimum	brimunum
genitive	brims	brimsins	brima	brimanna

References

• brim in Geir T. Zoëga (1910) A Concise Dictionary of Old Icelandic, Oxford: Clarendon Press