▪ I. dwalm, dwam, n. Sc. and north. dial.
(dwɑːm)
Forms: 6–9 dwawm, 8 dwaam, 9 dwam, dwalm, dwaum.
[orig. dwalm, a deriv. of the verbal ablaut series mentioned under dwell: cf. OE. dwolma confusion, chaos, abyss, OHG. twalm, MDu. dwelm stunning, stupefaction, giddiness, OS. dwalm delusion.]
A swoon, a fainting fit.
| 1500–20 Dunbar Poems lxxiv. 17 Sic deidlie dwawmes so mischeifaislie..hes my hairt ouirpast. 1566 Let. 23 Oct. in Keith Hist. Ch. & St. Scotl. ii. App. (1734) 133 Hir Majestie..hes had sum Dwaumes of Swouning, quhilk puttis Men in sum Feir. a 1774 Fergusson Cauler Water Poems (1845) 25 Though..ony inward dwaam should seize us. 1816 Scott Old Mort. xxxix, ‘Sae he fell out o' ae dwam into another.’ 1837 R. Nicoll Poems (1842) 151 Last Sabbath, as I sang the Psalm, I fell into an unco dwaum. 1892 Northumbld. Gloss., Dwalm, a slight illness, a faint fit. (Also in Glossaries of E. Yorkshire.) |
▪ II. dwalm, dwam, v. Sc. and north. dial.
[f. dwalm n.]
intr. To faint, swoon; to become unconscious; also, to sicken or fail in health.
| 1500–20 Dunbar Poems xxvii. 50 His hairt a littill dwamyng tuke. 1513 Douglas æneis iii. v. 55 Ȝit thus, at last said eftir hir dwalmyng. 1576 Trial Eliz. Dunlop in P.H. Brown Scot. bef. 1700 (1893) 212 That causit hir to dwam. 1892 Northumbld. Gloss. s.v., Ah dwalmed off to sleep. 1895 Ian Maclaren Bonnie Brier Bush 31 He begood to dwam in the end of the year. |