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teem

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

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Etymology 1

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From Middle English temen (“to bear, to support”), from Anglian Old English tēman (“to give birth”) (West Saxon tīeman), from Proto-West Germanic *taumijan (“to bridle”), from Proto-Germanic *taumijaną, from *taumaz ("bridle", continued in Modern English as team).

Pronunciation

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Verb

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teem (third-person singular simple present teems, present participle teeming, simple past and past participle teemed)

  1. To be stocked to overflowing.
  2. To be prolific; to abound; to be rife.
    Fish teem in this pond.
    • 1944 November and December, A Former Pupil, “Some Memories of Crewe Works—II”, in Railway Magazine, page 341:
      The steel works, with their Siemens furnaces, the rail-rolling mill with its enormous single-cylinder engine fitted with Corliss valve gear, and the forge in which were installed the great steam hammers and hydraulic presses—these were teeming with interest, and the best way to pick up information was to work with the millwrights.
    • 2013 June 22, “Snakes and ladders”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8841, page 76:
      Risk is everywhere. From tabloid headlines insisting that coffee causes cancer (yesterday, of course, it cured it) to stern government warnings about alcohol and driving, the world is teeming with goblins.
  3. (obsolete) To bring forth young, as an animal; to produce fruit, as a plant; to bear; to be pregnant; to conceive; to multiply.
Derived terms
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English terms derived from the Proto-Indo-European root *dewk- (0 c, 70 e)
Translations
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Etymology 2

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From Middle English temen (“to drain”), from Old Norse tœma, from Proto-Germanic *tōmijaną (“to empty, make empty”). Related to English toom (“empty, vacant”). More at toom.

Verb

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teem (third-person singular simple present teems, present participle teeming, simple past and past participle teemed)

  1. (archaic) To empty.
    • 1849, G. C. Greenwell, A Glossary of Terms used in the Coal Trade of Northumberland and Durham:
      [The banksman] also puts the full tubs to the weighing machine, and thence to the skreens, upon which he teems the coals. It is also his duty to keep an account of the quantity of coals and stones drawn each day.
    • 1913, D. H. Lawrence, “ Chapter 9 on Wikisource.Wikisource ”, in Sons_and_Lovers:
      “Are you sure they’re good lodgings?” she asked.
      “Yes—yes. Only—it’s a winder when you have to pour your own tea out—an’ nobody to grouse if you teem it in your saucer and sup it up. It somehow takes a’ the taste out of it.”
  2. To pour (especially with rain)
  3. To pour, as steel, from a melting pot; to fill, as a mould, with molten metal.
Derived terms
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Translations
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Etymology 3

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From Middle English temen (“to be suitable, befit”), from Old English *teman, from Proto-Germanic *temaną (“to fit”). Cognate with Low German temen, tamen (“to befit”), Dutch betamen (“to befit”), German ziemen. See also tame (adjective) and compare beteem.

Verb

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teem (third-person singular simple present teems, present participle teeming, simple past and past participle teemed)

  1. (obsolete, rare) To think fit.
    • 1603, George Gifford, Dialogue of Witches:
      Ah, said he, thou hast confessed and bewrayed all, I could teem it to rend thee in pieces

Anagrams

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Dutch

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Pronunciation

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Verb

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teem

  1. inflection of temen:
    1. first-person singular present indicative
    2. (in case of inversion) second-person singular present indicative
    3. imperative

Farefare

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Etymology

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Cognate with Moore toeeme (“to change”)

Pronunciation

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IPA(key): /téːm/

Verb

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teem

  1. to move something
    Sẽŋɛ ka teem bʋʋsɩ la
    Go move the goats

Middle English

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Noun

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teem

  1. Alternative form of tem (“group”)

Portuguese

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Verb

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teem

  1. (European Portuguese spelling) Pre-reform spelling (used until 1945) of têm.
    • 1880, Maria Amalia Vaz de Carvalho, “As filhas de Victor Hugo [The daughters of Victor Hugo]”, in Contos e phantasias [Short stories and fantasies]‎[1], 2nd edition, Lisbon: Parceria Antonio Maria Pereira, published 1905, page 304:
      Ah! é que umas são a ignorancia na sua perfeição mais divina, outras guardam na bocca o gosto amargo de todos os fructos vedados que teem devorado!
      Ah! It is that some embody ignorance in its most divine perfection, while others carry in their mouth the bitter taste of all the forbidden fruits they have devoured!
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