▪ I. temse, n. Now dial.
(tɛms, tɛmz)
Forms: 1 temes-, 4 temys, 5 temeze, tymze, 5–7 temze, tem(m)es, tempse (9 dial.), 7 temize, 7–9 tems, 5– temse; 9 dial. temmis, timse, teems.
[OE. *tęmes (in tęmes-pile, tęmesian), app. Common WGer.; cf. MLG. tēmes(e, temse, LG. téms (tams); MDu. têms(e, teems(e, Du. teems; EFris. têms(e, täms(e, NFris. tems; HG. dial. zims; all fem., meaning ‘sieve’; the cognate OHG. zemisa renders ‘furfures’, i.e. bran, siftings. These forms point to a Common WGer. *tamis(j)ô-, coinciding with the Romanic stem tamisio- of F. tamis, It. tamigio (Florio), med.L. tamisium (Du Cange), by many thought to be from WGer. A Celtic source has been conjectured, but Thurneysen finds no satisfactory Celtic root.]
1. A sieve, esp. one used for bolting meal; a searce, a strainer. In mod. local use esp. a sieve used in brewing.
| [a 1050 Gerefa c. 17 in Liebermann Gesetze 455 Man sceal habban syfa..hriddel, hersyfe, tæmespilan (= temsing-staff), fanna.] ? 1362 Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees) 566 Pro duabus temys emptis pro pistrina, ij s. c 1425 Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 633/4 Hoc taratantarum, temse. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 488/2 Temze, sive (K.,P. temse, syue, S. temeze), setarium. c 1483 Caxton Dialogues 38/22 Ghyselin the mande maker Hath sold..his temmesis to clense with [F. a vendu..ses tammis]. 1483 Cath. Angl. 379/2 A Tempse (A. taratantorium). 1557 in Wills & Inv. N.C. (Surtees) I. 159 A borde w{supt}{suph} ij trestes & ij temeses ijs viij{supd}. 1612 Capt. Smith Map Virginia 17 They use a small basket for their Temmes. 1616 Surfl. & Markh. Country Farme 577 The boulter which is for this purpose must bee a course searse or a fine temze. 1674 Ray N.C. Words 47 A Temse, a fine sierce, a small sieve..whence comes our Temse bread. 1725 [see temms-maker in 2]. 1904 Eng. Dial. Dict., Tems(e, teems, temes, temis, tempse, temz, timse [in various dialects, Roxb. to Lancash., Notts., Lincoln]... 3. A sieve used in brewing. W. Yks. Still common. Used when speaking of the strainer used in brewing to separate the hops, etc., from the ale. |
¶A suggested substitution of temse for Thames in ‘to set the Thames on fire’ has no historical basis: see Thames.
2. attrib. and Comb., as temse-maker, temse-sieve; temse-bread, -loaf, bread or a loaf made of finely sifted flour, temsed bread.
| 1600 Chettle & Day Blind Begg. ii. (1902) 24 Good Beef, Norfolk *temes bread, and Country home bred drink. 1611 Cotgr., Miche,..the countrey people of France call so also, a loafe of boulted bread, or Tems bread. 1674 [see 1]. |
| 1552 Will of Leppingwell (Comm. Crt. Lond.), A *Temes loffe. 1573 Tusser Husb. (1878) 39 Temmes lofe on his table to haue for to eate. |
| 1725 Lond. Gaz. No. 6432/6 Hosea Emmott, late of Bridgehouses.., *Temms-maker. |
▪ II. temse, v. Now dial.
(tɛms, tɛmz)
Forms: see prec.
[OE. tęm(e)sian, f. tęmese (see prec.): cf. MLG. temesen, MDu., Du. temsen, teemsen to sift.]
trans. To sift or bolt (flour, etc.) with a temse.
| c 950 Lindisf. Gosp. Mark ii. 26 Huu inn-eode hus godes..& hlafo fore-ᵹeᵹearwad vel temised ᵹebréc. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 488/2 Temzyn wythe a tymze (S. temsyn with a tenze),.. attamino, setario. 1483 Cath. Angl. 379/2 To Tempse, taratantarizare. 1600 Surflet Countrie Farme v. xx. 714 Barley bread must be made..of that..which hath beene temzed and cleansed from his grosse bran. 1641 Best Farm. Bks. (Surtees) 103 To measure the meale..afore it be temsed. 1809 T. Donaldson Poems 73 Sifting meal..Or timsing flour. 1828 Craven Gloss., Tems, to sift. 1904 Eng. Dial. Dict. s.v., Fifty years ago flour was not very common with cottagers esp., and when they wanted some they would temse some rough meal. |
Hence temsed ppl. a.; temsed bread = temse-bread (see prec. 2); ˈtemsing vbl. n., chiefly in comb. as temsing bread, temsing-chamber, temsing-staff, temsing-trough. Also ˈtemser, ˈtemzer = temse n. 1.
| 1641 Best Farm. Bks. (Surtees) 104 Our own *tempsed⁓breade. Ibid., An upheaped bushell of tempsed meale. 1777 Horæ Subsecivæ 428 (E.D.D.) Tems'd or temmas bread, white [bread] made of flour finely sifted. |
| 1696–7 in Kennett MS. Lansd. 1033 lf. 4 *Temzer, a range or coarse searche. |
| c 1450 Medulla in Promp. Parv. 488 note, Cervida, lignum quod portat cribrum, a *temsynge staffe. [Cf. 1904 Eng. Dial. Dict., Timse-sticks, the small frame supporting two laths or sticks on which the ‘timse’ slides.] 1599 Wills & Inv. N.C. (Surtees) II. 287 In the bowltinge house. One temsinge troughe. a 1800 Pegge Suppl. Grose, Temsing⁓chamber, the sifting-room. 1828 Craven Gl., Temsin-breead. |