▪ I. helm, n.1
(hɛlm)
Forms: 1– helm; also 3 hælm, healm, 4–7 helme, 6 healme.
[Com. Teut.: OE. helm str. masc. = OFris., OS. (LG., MDu., Du.), OHG. (MHG., Ger.) helm, ON. hjalmr (Sw., Da. hjelm), Goth. hilms:—OTeut. *helmo-z:—pre-Teut. *kelmo-s, f. root kel- to cover, conceal (see hele v.). OF. helme (mod.F. heaume) masc., It. elmo, Sp. yelmo, are from OHG. Senses 7 and 8 are prob. from Norse.]
I. 1. That part of the armour which covers the head; a helmet. Now poet. and arch.
| c 725 Corpus Gloss. 422 Cassium, helm. c 1000 ælfric Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 143/27 Crista, helmes camb. a 1175 Cott. Hom. 243 Þa beoð sceold helm and brenie. c 1205 Lay. 25813 Hælm [c 1275 healm] an his hafde. c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints, Cristofore 549 Þane gert þe kinge ane helme tak. 1483 Caxton Gold. Leg. 65 b/2 A helme of brasse on his heed. a 1533 Ld. Berners Huon liv. 182 There was brought him a good harneis, helme, sheld, & spere. 1667 Milton P.L. vi. 840 O're Shields and Helmes, and helmed heads he rode. 1715–20 Pope Iliad v. 5 High on his helm celestial lightnings play. 1870 Morris Earthly Par. II. iii. 345 Methought I had a helm upon my head Wrought all of gold. |
| fig. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 193 Habbeð rihte bileue to brunie, and hope to helme. 1382 Wyclif Isa. lix. 17 The helm of helthe in his hed. |
b. Her. = helmet 2.
| 1864 Boutell Her. Hist. & Pop. xiv. 165 A large helm surmounted by the lion crest. |
† 2. transf. Put for a man in armour. Obs.
| a 1400–50 Alexander 5498 Ser Bedwyn þe bald with many briȝt helmes. 1470–85 Malory Arthur vi. vi, The kyng of Northgaly's with eyght score helmes. 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. V, 47 In the Vaward wer eight thousande Healmes of Knightes and Esquiers and foure thousande Archers. |
† 3. Christ's crown of thorns. Obs.
| c 1000 ælfric Hom. II. 252 Mid þyrnenum helme his heafod befengon. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 147 Ure helende..hefde uppen his hefde þornene helm. a 1400 Leg. Rood (1871) 142 Þorw-out his helm þe harde hat Þe þornes in-to his flesch gan crepe. |
II. 4. The crown, top, or summit of anything; in OE. esp. the leafy top of a tree. Obs. exc. dial.
| c 888 K. ælfred Boeth. xxxiv. §10 He onginþ of ðam wyrtrumum and swa upweardes grewþ..oþ ðone helm. c 1000 ælfric Hom. II. 150 His orf læswode mid treowenum helme. a 1100 Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 243/33 Frondea robora, ᵹebufe beamas uel helmas. 1893 Northumbld. Gloss., Helm, the top (crest) or head of a thing. ‘Helm o' the hill’..a considerable eminence on the old post road a few miles south of Felton. |
† 5. The head or cap of an alembic or retort.
| 1594 Plat Jewell-ho. ii. 5 Those glasses which they call bodies..fitted to their helmes. 1610 B. Jonson Alch. ii. i, She'll mount you up, like quick-silver Over the helm. 1686 Plot Staffordsh. 102 That its oil or sulphur came over the Helm upon the first heat. 1718 J. Chamberlayne Relig. Philos. (1730) II. xviii. §7 Distil it with a glowing Iron Pot, upon which there is an Iron Helm or Head. |
III. † 6. A covering. (Only in OE.) Obs.
| a 1000 Riddles iv. 64 (Gr.) Under lyfte helm. |
7. A roofed shelter for cattle, etc.; a shed. north.
| 1501 Searcher's Verdicts in Surtees Misc. (1888) 22 For his kid helme upon þe tenement or ground. 1641 Best Farm. Bks. (Surtees) 58 The Greate Helme in the Staggarth helde 43 [loades], the Helme in the Foregarth helde 23. 1674–91 Ray N.C. Words 36 An Helm, a Hovel. 1855 Robinson Whitby Gloss., Helm, a hovel, an open shed for cattle in a field. 1863 Mrs. Toogood Yorksh. Dial., Helm, a cart or cattle shed. |
8. (Also helm-cloud.) The local name in Cumberland and Westmorland of a cloud which forms over a mountain top before or during a storm; esp. that which accompanies the helm-wind (also occas. called the helm), a violent wind which in certain circumstances rushes down the escarpment of the Pennines near Cross Fell, when a helm-cloud lies over the summit. helm bar, a roll of cloud suspended in the air to the leeward of the helm-cloud.
| 1777 Nicolson & Burn Hist. Westm. & Cumb. I. 7 It is called a Helm-wind. Ibid., A rolling cloud..hovers over the mountain tops..When this cloud appears, the country people say the helm is up..This helm..continues in its station, although a violent roaring hurricane comes tumbling down the mountain. 1787 J. Clarke Surv. Lakes Introd. xl, A black streak of cloud..continually fed from the white one, which is the real Helm: this is called the Helm-bar, from its being supposed to bar or obstruct the winds that burst upon the vallies beneath as soon as it wholly vanishes. Ibid., Such is the Helm-Wind generated in that enormous cloud, which, like a helmet, covers the summit of Cross-fell. 1801 Coleridge Poems II. 159 Ancient Skiddaw..Thus spake from out his helm of cloud. 1885 Nature 23/1 Whenever the helm-wind was blowing, there was an easterly wind. 1886 Jrnl. R. Meteor. Soc. 2 On certain occasions, when the wind is from some Easterly point, the Helm suddenly forms..Small portions of thin vaporous clouds are seen travelling from the Helm Cloud to the Bar. 1888 Encycl. Brit. XXIV. 515/2 Here for weeks at a time prevails a kind of cyclone, revolving on a horizontal axis parallel to the escarpment,—the ‘helm-wind’. 1888–9 J. G. Goodchild in Trans. Cumb. & Westm. Assoc. XIV. 44 The Helm Wind descends with greatest force in the neighbourhood of the highest elevation of the Escarpment, being strongest along a zone extending a few miles on each side of Cross Fell, and gradually diminishing in force in proportion to the distance on either side. |
IV. 9. attrib. and Comb., as helm-bearing, helm-decked, helm-mover; helm bar, helm-cloud, helm-wind (see sense 8); helm-guard, ‘a chain attaching the helm to the girdle or to the mammelière’ (Cent. Dict.).
| a 1100 Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 243/40 Frondigeris coronis, helmberendum wuldorbeaᵹum. c 1611 Chapman Iliad ii. 725 Helm-deck'd Hector. Ibid. vi. 277 The great helm⁓mover thus received the authoress of his kind. |
▪ II. helm, n.2
(hɛlm)
Forms: 1 helma, 4–7 helme, (7 helmne, 8 Sc. hellim), 6– helm.
[OE. helma wk. masc., corresp. in stem to ON. hjálm str. fem. With sense 3, cf. MHG. helm handle.]
1. The handle or tiller, in large ships the wheel, by which the rudder is managed; sometimes extended so as to include the whole steering gear.
| c 725 Corpus Gl. 4 Clavus, helma. c 1050 Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 182/6. c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 12060 Roþeres, helmes, right for to stande. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 235/1 Helme, or þe rothere of a schyp. c 1515 Cocke Lorell's B. (Percy) 12 Some stered at the helme behynde, Some whysteled after the wynde. 1634 Sir T. Herbert Trav. 5 Many times the ships will feele no helme. 1656 Blount Glossogr., Helme of the Rudder of a ship, is a handle of wood, put on the Rudder for a man to govern the same, and direct the ship. 1669 Sturmy Mariner's Mag. i. 17 The Helmne is hard a weather, mind at Helmne what is said to you carefully. 1757 Gray Bard ii. ii, In gallant trim the gilded Vessel goes; Youth on the prow, and Pleasure at the helm. a 1796 Burns (Song), When Guilford good our Pilot stood, An' did our hellim thraw, man. 1826 H. N. Coleridge West Indies 76 There was no one on deck but the man at the helm and himself. |
b. Use or turning of the helm, space through which the helm is turned.
| 1892 Pall Mall G. 23 Feb. 7/1 Many of the witnesses disagree as to the amount of helm which was given to the ship. 1894 Times 17 Mar. 5/4 Very little helm, three or four spokes either to port or starboard, would have done it. |
c. Phrases. down with the helm, down helm, the order to place the helm so as to bring the rudder to windward. up with the helm, up helm, the order to place the helm so as to bring the rudder to leeward. See also alee, amidships, bear v. 37, ease v. 9, feel v. 12, over, port, starboard, weather.
| 1769 Falconer Dict. Marine (1789) s.v. Amidships, Put the helm amidships, i.e. in the middle. 1833 M. Scott Tom Cringle xv. (1859) 380 Down with the helm and let her come round, said I. 1840 Willis in Longfellow's Life (1891) I. 371 So I up helm for my sister's house in Brighton. 1859 Gen. P. Thompson Audi Alt. II. xc. 66 See if he does not up helm, and make the best run of it he can. 1875 Bedford Sailor's Pocket Bk. vi. (ed. 2) 215 If caught in a hard sudden squall, down helm at once..A tendency to carry lee helm should be counteracted at once. 1880 Boy's own Bk. 316 Helm's-a-lee, the call of the helmsman when his helm is hard down in tacking. |
2. a. fig. That by which affairs, etc., are guided.
| c 888 K. ælfred Boeth. xxxv. §4 Mid þæm helman and mid þæm stiorroþre his godnesse. a 1529 Skelton Bowge of Crt. 250 Holde up the helme, loke up, and lete God stere. 1607 Shakes. Cor. i. i. 79 You slander The Helmes o' th State. c 1645 Howell Lett. v. i. xxxi. (1754) 226 Bishop Laud..sits at the Helm of the Church. 1679 Establ. Test 2 'Tis dangerous meddling with the Helm of State. 1770 Langhorne Plutarch (1879) I. 216/1 Fabius came to the helm, when Rome experienced the worst..turn of fortune. 1840 Arnold Hist. Rome II. 33 The elderly men, who generally held the tribuneship, now abandoned the helm in despair. |
b. transf. Any part which is used like a helm.
| 1660 Marquis of Worcester Cent. Inv. Exact Def. 15 The [Water-commanding] Engine consisteth of the following Particulars..5. A Helm or Stern with Bitt and Reins, wherewith any Child may guide, order, and controul the whole Operation. 1860 G. H. K. Vac. Tour 162 Salmon..give a series of sharp sculling strokes with their broad helms, which sends them sheer out of the water. |
† 3. A handle, helve. Obs.
| c 1430 Syr Gener. 3729 Like mattokes wer here wepens wroght, With long helmes of yren stoute. 1589 Nashe Martins Months Minde 45 Let them once cut a helme for their hatchet, but of a braunch of you, and they will cut downe all the wood handsmooth. 1615 Chapman Odyss. v. 312 A great axe..In which a fair well-polish'd helm was put. |
4. attrib. and Comb., as helm circle, the smallest circle in which a ship can be turned; helm-coat: see coat n. 8; helm-man = helmsman q.v.; helm-port (see quot.); † helm-stock, the tiller (cf. Du. helmstok).
| 1884 West. Morn. News 2 Aug. 8/1 The diameter of the *helm circle of the Defence is..500 yards. |
| c 1850 Rudim. Navig. (Weale) 124 *Helm-port, that hole in the counter through which the head of the rudder passes. Helm port transom, the piece of timber placed athwart the inside of the counter timbers at the height of the helm-port. |
| 1513 Douglas æneis v. xiv. 62 Our burd hym kest amyde the flowand se, Rycht all togiddir with the *helmstok of tre. |
▪ III. helm, n.3 dial.
Also 6 helme, 8 healm, 9 dial. h)ellum, elam, elm.
[app. related to haulm, OE. healm, but the phonology is not clear. In sense 2, Du. and LG. have also helm, in Holstein halm, in Heligoland hallem; some Du. dialects have helm, hellem, hellim in the general sense of halm, straw.
It has been suggested that helm might be a special southern development of OE. healm haulm.]
1. The stalk of corn; the stalks collectively, straw; esp. as made up in bundles or laid straight for thatching. (In this sense perh. confused with yelm q.v.)
| 1437 [see helm-bote in 3]. 1578 Lyte Dodoens iv. viii. 461 Barley hath helme or strawe, lyke wheaten strawe. 1669 Worlidge Syst. Agric. (1681) 238 The best..is called Helm, that is, long and stiff Wheat-straw (with the Ears cut off) bound up in bundles unbruised. 1674 Ray S. & E. C. Words 68 Haulm or Helm, stubble gathered after the corn is inned. a 1722 Lisle Husb. Gloss. (E.D.S.), Helm, halm, or straw prepared for thatching. [1862 J. R. Wise New Forest (1863) 282 [In the New Forest] three elams make a bundle..[In Wiltshire] the measurement is somewhat different, five elams forming a bundle. 1866 Blackmore Cradock Nowell xxxiii, The wind..brought an ‘elam’ of thatch to shelter her.] |
b. = haulm n. a.
| 1888 Elworthy W. Somerset Word-bk., Hellum, the stalk of beans, pease, vetches, potatoes, clover, etc...Not..straw of any kind..A coarse kind of stalk is implied. |
2. A name for the Bent-grass of the sandhills. ? Obs. or alien.
| 1640 Parkinson Theat. Bot. 1200 The Italians, and Spaniards call it Sparto..The Dutch Halm. And we in English, Helme, and Matweede. 1897 Contemp. Rev. June 863 Swarms of rabbits lie out in the ‘helm’, buckthorn bushes and little dwarf pine copses [in Holland]. |
3. Comb., as helm-sheaf; helm-bote (in quot. -bought), the right of cutting helm in a common field for thatching.
| 1437 Churchw. Acc. (Som. Rec. Soc. vol. 4) 178 Uno homini locato pro le stubel vocato helmebought falcando hoc pro dicta domo pistrine cooperienda. 1563–87 Foxe A. & M. (1684) III. 855 Good store of Helme-sheaves. |
▪ IV. helm, v.1
[OE. helmian, f. helm n.1]
trans. To furnish or cover with a helm. (Chiefly poet.)
| a 1000 Andreas 1307 (Gr.) Niht helmade..beorᵹas steape. c 1000 ælfric Gram. xliii. (Z.) 256 Galea, helm. Galeatus, ᵹehelmod. c 1374 Chaucer Troylus ii. 544 (593) Maris þe god þat helmyd is of stel. 1525 Ld. Berners Froiss. (1812) II. clxviii. 472 Anone, they were agayne helmed, and ran togider. 1691 Dryden Arthur i. i. (R. Sup.), Now again you helm your hoary head. 1795 Southey Joan of Arc vii. 498 Then from the bank He sprung, and helm'd his head. a 1839 Praed Poems (1864) II. 366 Now saddle my steed and helm my head. |
▪ V. helm, v.2
[f. helm n.2]
trans. To guide with or as with a helm; to steer. Chiefly fig.
| 1603 Shakes. Meas. for M. iii. ii. 151 The businesse he hath helmed, must..giue him a better proclamation. 1607 Marston What you will ii. i. C iij b, Fate helmeth all. 1808 J. Barlow Columb. i. 613 The steerman gaily helms his course along. 1884 Tennyson Becket i. iii, No forsworn Archbishop Shall helm the Church. 1890 Rider Haggard & Lang World's Desire 41 He helmed the ship towards these. |
| intr. or absol. 1666 Lond. Gaz. No. 31/4 The Conquerors..helmed a weather, and stood for the Southward Cape. |
▸ trans. Film and Television (orig. U.S.). To direct (a film, television programme, etc.). Also intr.
| 1930 Los Angeles Times 30 Nov. 1/3 At least nine out of ten pictures produced so far this year have been helmed by the ‘chiefs’ reared in the silent school of film production. 1965 Oakland (Calif.) Tribune 11 July (Parade Mag. section) 8/3 The British director helming Zhivago. 1995 Radio Times (Midlands ed.) 1 July 54/4 Lew Landers helms with felicity. 2002 Premiere July 33/2 He had helmed six features of his own, codirected one, and contributed two short segments to omnibus films. |
▪ VI. helm, v.3 dial.
[f. helm n.3; but see yelm v.]
trans. To lay (straw) in order for thatching.
| a 1722 Lisle Husb. (1752) 236 Straw is heaped up together in order to be helmed. 1762 Forster in Phil. Trans. LII. 475, I had a woman..helming of straw, i.e. laying it straight, for the thatcher. |