tame

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See also: Tame and tamë

English[edit]

Dogs and sheep were among the first animals to be domesticated.

Pronunciation[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

From Middle English tame, tome, weak inflection forms of Middle English tam, tom, from Old English tam, tom (“domesticated, tame”), from Proto-Germanic *tamaz (“brought into the home, tame”), from Proto-Indo-European *demh₂- (“to tame, to dominate”). Cognate with Scots tam, tame (“tame”), Saterland Frisian tom (“tame”), West Frisian tam (“tame”), Dutch tam (“tame”), Low German Low German tamm, tahm (“tame”), German zahm (“tame”), Swedish tam (“tame”), Icelandic tamur (“tame”).

The verb is from Middle English tamen.

Adjective[edit]

tame (comparative tamer, superlative tamest)

  1. Not or no longer wild; domesticated
    Antonym: wild
    They have a tame wildcat.
  2. (chiefly of animals) Mild and well-behaved; accustomed to human contact
    Synonym: gentle
    The lion was quite tame.
  3. Not exciting.
    Synonyms: dull, flat, insipid, unexciting
    Antonym: exciting
    This party is too tame for me.
    For a thriller, that film was really tame.
    • 2015 February 15, John Oliver, “Tobacco”, in Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, season 2, episode 2, HBO:
      Wow! So the implication there is that even 12-year-olds in France will find the movie tame. “Yes, eet was a, an amusing erotic trifle, I supposa. Ze love-making was passable, but, uh, belt play is a leettle pedestriahn, don’t you seenk?”.
  4. Crushed; subdued; depressed; spiritless.
    • (Can we date this quote by Roscommon and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
      tame slaves of the laborious plough
  5. (mathematics, of a knot) Capable of being represented as a finite closed polygonal chain.
    Antonym: wild
Quotations[edit]
Derived terms[edit]
Translations[edit]

Verb[edit]

tame (third-person singular simple present tames, present participle taming, simple past and past participle tamed)

  1. (transitive) To make (an animal) tame; to domesticate.
    He tamed the wild horse.
  2. (intransitive) To become tame or domesticated.
    • 2006, Gayle Soucek, Doves (page 78)
      Tambourines are shy birds and do not tame easily.
  3. (transitive) To make gentle or meek.
    to tame a rebellion
Derived terms[edit]
Translations[edit]

Further reading[edit]

Etymology 2[edit]

From Middle English tamen (“to cut into, broach”). Compare French entamer.

Verb[edit]

tame (third-person singular simple present tames, present participle taming, simple past and past participle tamed)

  1. (obsolete, Britain, dialect) To broach or enter upon; to taste, as a liquor; to divide; to distribute; to deal out.
    • (Can we date this quote by Fuller and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
      In the time of famine he is the Joseph of the country, and keeps the poor from starving. Then he tameth his stacks of corn, which not his covetousness, but providence, hath reserved for time of need.

Anagrams[edit]

Inari Sami[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Proto-Samic *δëmē.

Noun[edit]

taṃe

  1. glue

Inflection[edit]

Even e-stem, ṃ-m gradation
Nominative taṃe
Genitive tame
Singular Plural
Nominative taṃe tameh
Accusative tame toomijd
Genitive tame tomij
toomij
Illative taṃan toomijd
Locative taameest toomijn
Comitative toomijn tomijguin
Abessive tamettáá tomijttáá
Essive tammeen
Partitive tammeed
Possessive forms
Singular Dual Plural
1st person — — —
2nd person — — —
3rd person — — —

Further reading[edit]

  • Koponen, Eino; Ruppel, Klaas; Aapala, Kirsti, editors (2002-2008) Álgu database: Etymological database of the Saami languages‎[1], Helsinki: Research Institute for the Languages of Finland

Japanese[edit]

Romanization[edit]

tame

  1. Rōmaji transcription of ため

Middle English[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

From Old English tam, tom, from Proto-Germanic *tamaz (“tame”).

Adjective[edit]

tame

  1. (of animals) tame, domesticated
  2. (of plants) cultivated, domesticated
  3. overcome, subdued
  4. (of people) meek, compliant
  5. (anatomy, medicine, of a fistula) inner, interior
Alternative forms[edit]
  • tam; tom, tome (early Southwest and Southwest Midlands)
Descendants[edit]
  • English: tame
  • Scots: tame

References[edit]

Etymology 2[edit]

Verb[edit]

tame (third-person singular simple present tameth, present participle tamende, first-/third-person singular past indicative and past participle tamed)

  1. Alternative form of tamen (“to cut, carve”)

Etymology 3[edit]

Noun[edit]

tame (uncountable)

  1. (Northern) Alternative form of tome (“freetime”)

Swedish[edit]

Adjective[edit]

tame

  1. absolute definite natural masculine form of tam.

Anagrams[edit]

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