▪ I. harm, n.
(hɑːm)
Forms: 1–3 hearm, 2–5 herm, 3 (harem), hærm, (ærme), (3–5 arme), 3–7 herme, harme, (4 harim, arm, 5 harome), 6 Sc. hairm(e, 3– harm.
[Com. Teutonic: OE. hearm, corresp. to OFris. herm, OS. harm, OHG. harm, haram (mod.G. harm), ON. harmr grief, sorrow, rarely harm, hurt (Sw. harm, Da. harme):—OTeut. *harmo-z: perh. cogn. w. Skr. śrama labour, toil.]
1. a. Evil (physical or otherwise) as done to or suffered by some person or thing; hurt, injury, damage, mischief. Often in the set phrase ‘to do more harm than good’.
| Beowulf (Z.) 1893 No he mid hearme of hliðes nosan, gæs[tas] grette. a 1123 O.E. Chron. an. 1101 His men mycel to hearme æfre ᵹedydon. 1297 R. Glouc. (1724) 277 To gret harm to al þys lond, the gode kyng he slou. c 1340 Cursor M. 4898 (Fairf.) Do ham na arme in na way. c 1380 Sir Ferumb. 2578 Þay mowe noȝt her y-wys hem⁓selue fram herme saue. c 1384 Chaucer H. Fame ii. 537 Thou shalt have no harme truely. c 1400 Mandeville (1839) iv. 23 Sche doth non harm to no man, but ȝif men don hire harm. 1442 Searchers' Verdicts in Surtees Misc. (1888) 18 Ye same place has taken mikel herm for defaut of a gutter. c 1530 H. Rhodes Bk. Nurture 28 in Babees Bk. 72 Vnto your Elders gentle be, agaynst them say no harme. a 1586 Satir. Poems Reform. xxxv. 59 Ȝe knaw quhat hairme he hes susteind. 1632 Lithgow Trav. ii. 62 What harme was done by us amongst the Infidels, we were not assured. 1657 R. Ligon Barbadoes (1673) 62 Caterpillars..do very great harm. 1705 Hickeringill Priest-cr. i. (1721) 21 Harm watch, Harm catch. 1791 Mrs. Radcliffe Rom. Forest x, I meant no harm. 1809 Q. Rev. May 305 The story should be suppressed altogether, as one which will do more harm than good. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. II. 44 Aware that the divulging of the truth might do harm. 1857 Dickens Dorrit ii. xxix. 723, I should have done you more harm than good, at first. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) V. 331 Rains doing harm instead of good. 1914 G. B. Shaw Misalliance p. xxix, These rare cases actually do more harm than good. |
b. With a and pl. An evil done or sustained; an injury, a loss.
| a 1000 Cædmon's Gen. 756 Ealle synt uncre hearmas ᵹe⁓wrecene. c 1200 Vices & Virtues (1888) 59 ær ðu muȝe þoliȝen alle harmes and scames and bismeres. c 1380 Wyclif Sel. Wks. III. 349 Oþer bodili harmes. c 1461 Paston Lett. No. 428 II. 73 Of ij harmys the leste is to be take. 1583 Babington Commandm. viii. (1637) 73 Wise is hee, whom other mens harmes can cause to take heede. 1728 Morgan Algiers II. iv. 263 The inconceivable Harms he did to Christendom. 1863 Longfellow Wayside Inn, Birds of Killingworth xix, They..from your harvests keep a hundred harms. |
c. out of harm's way: Out of the way of doing or of sustaining injury.
| a 1661 Fuller Worthies (1840) I. xviii. 61 Some great persons..have been made sheriffs, to keep them out of harm's way. 1697 W. Dampier Voy. I. 207 He took care to keep himself out of harms way. 1711 Steele Spect. No. 136 ¶4 People send Children..to School to keep them out of Harm's way. 1890 H. M. Stanley Darkest Africa I. xiv. 333 They had..migrated in time out of harm's way. |
† 2. Grief, sorrow, pain, trouble, distress, affliction. Also with a and pl. to make harms (quot. 1375): to make lamentation. Obs.
| a 1000 Cædmon's Gen. 751 Eac is hearm gode, mod-sorᵹ ᵹemacod. a 1300 Cursor M. 24089 Þis harm mi hert it held sa hard. c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints, Johannes 68 Mony ane Of hir kine..Folowit hyr, makand harmys. c 1386 Chaucer Sqr.'s T. 578, I wende verraily That he had felt as muche harm as I Whan þat I herde hym speke and saugh his hewe. 1570 Satir. Poems Reform. xiii. 197 Sic hauie harme sall happin to ȝour hart. 1627 F. E. Hist. Edw. II (1680) 47 He lays aside his Arms, for harms to feed his humour. |
† 3. Pity, a pity. (Cf. F. dommage.) Obs.
| c 1430 Syr Gener. (Roxb.) 4230 It was harme it wanted oght. 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. III. 44 Sobbit full soir that harme wes for to heir. |
4. attrib. and Comb., as harm-doer, harm-doing, harm-taking; harm-averting, harm-eschewing adjs.
| c 1220 Bestiary 389 Husebondes hire haten for hire harm dedes. 1386 in Rymer Fœdera (1709) VII. 526/2 Þair sall not be at þa Rydings no Harme doynges. 1477 Earl Rivers (Caxton) Dictes 81 Them..y{supt} ben harmedoers and loueth falshode and desepcion. 1571 Golding Calvin on Ps. xxxiv. 11 To live quietly..without any harmetaking. 1641 Milton Ch. Govt. i. v, I judge they may pass without harm-doing to our Cause. 1889 R. B. Anderson tr. Rydberg's Teut. Mythol. 102 Harm-averting songs. |
▪ II. harm, v.
Forms: 1 hearmian, 2–3 haremen, hearmen, hærmen, 2–5 herme, 3–4 hermien, 3–7 harme, 4 harmi, -y, 6 arme, 4– harm.
[OE. hearmian, f. hearm harm n.: cf. OHG. harmjan, harmen, hermen to calumniate, injure.]
To do harm (to); to injure (physically or otherwise); to hurt, damage. Orig. intr. To be hurtful, with dative (like L. nocēre), which was sometimes in ME. expressed by to, but generally became a simple object, making the verb trans.
| c 1000 ælfric Hom. I. 140 Gif ðu hine forᵹitst, hit hearmað þe sylfum and na Gode. c 1000 in Leg. Rood 105 Þeah þe hit hearmiᵹe sumum. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 107 To hermen alle monnen. a 1225 Ancr. R. 64 Þe wise mon askeð..hweðer ei þing hermeð more wummon þene hire eien. 1340 Ayenb. 23 To oþren ha wyle harmy..to miszigge to ham þet he wyle harmi. 1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. iii. 248 And holy churche þorw hem worth harmed for euere. 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. VI, 175 Protractyng of tyme onely hurted and harmed the Kyng. 1653 Walton Angler vii. 153 Harme him as little as you may possibly, that he may live the longer. 1659 D. Pell Impr. Sea 77 note, An High Elme..in the midst of a Garden..harms all round about it. 1784 Cowper Task vi. 578 He that hunts Or harms them there, is guilty of a wrong. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) I. 291 When a man has no sense he is harmed by courage. |
b. absol. To do harm or injury.
| 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. iii. 136 And hongeþ him for hate þat harmede neuere. 1546 J. Heywood Prov. (1867) 23 She can no more harme than can a she ape. 1633 P. Fletcher Ps. cxxvii. (R.), As arrows..Where they are meant, will surely harm, And if they hit, wound deep and dread. |
Hence harmed, ˈharming ppl. adjs.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 228/1 Harmyd, dampnificatus. 1563 T. Hill Art Garden. (1593) 149 They temper the harming force of the colde of it. |
▪ III. harm, -e
obs. forms of arm n.1
| a 1400–50 Alexander 3237 He..clepys hym in harmez. |