▪ I. shawm, n.
(ʃɔːm)
Forms: α. 4 schallemele, 6 shamulle, shamble. β. pl. 4–5 schalmeis, s(c)halmys, shalemeyes, chalemyes. γ. pl. 5 shalmuse, shalemuse, schalmeuis, 6 shalmewes; sing. 5 sc(h)almuse, 6 schalmesse; pl. 5 s(c)halmuses, schalmoyses. δ. 5–7 schalme, 6 shaulm(e, 6–7 shalme, 6–9 shalm; pl. 6 shalmz, schallmes. ε. pl. 6 shambes, s(c)hames, schammes. ζ. 6 shaume, pl. schawmys, 6–7 shawme, (7 pl. shawn(e)s), 7– shawm.
[The ME. schallemelle (whence the other α forms) is a. OF. chalemel (mod.F. chalumeau):—vulgar L. *calamellus, dim. of L. calamus reed. The β forms (with which cf. MHG. schalmîe, MDu. schalmeye, schalmeide, MLG. schalmeie, mod.G. and Du. schalmei) are a. OF. chalemie, an unexplained derivative of L. calamus. The γ forms are a. OF. chalemeaux, pl. of chalemel, the form of the last syllable being prob. influenced by association with muse n.3, bagpipe; the pl. was in Eng. early mistaken for a sing., and a new plural schalmuses was formed. The reduction of the word to a monosyllable was prob. due to misapprehension of pl. forms like schalmys. See also shalle.]
1. A mediæval musical instrument of the oboe class, having a double reed enclosed in a globular mouthpiece.
Coverdale, followed by the Prayer-book Psalter, uses shawmes in Ps. xcviii. 7 where the original and the ancient versions have ‘trumpet’ or ‘horn’.
| α 1390 Gower Conf. III. 358 With Cornemuse and Schallemele [rhyme hele]. 1524 St. Papers Hen. VIII, IV. 209 And furthwith the trompettes and shamulles did sounde and blewe up mooste pleasauntely. 1572 J. Bossewell Armorie ii. 46 One of them singeth with voice, another with shamble [Isid. xi. iii. 59 b, Vna voce, altera tibiis]. |
| β c 1350 Libeaus Desc. (Kaluza) 1864 Trompes, hornes, schalmeis [v. rr. schalmys, schalmes, schalmuses] Before þe hiȝe deis He herd. c 1384 Chaucer H. Fame 1218 That maden lowde menstralcies In cornemuse and shalmyes [v. rr. chalemyes, shalemeyes] And many other maner pipe. |
| γ c 1430 Pilgr. Lyf Manhode ii. iii. (1869) 117 Reedes and floytes and shalmuses. a 1440 Sir Degrev. 1086 With trompe and with nakere, And the scalmuse clere. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 443/2 Schalmuse, pype, sambuca. 1480 Caxton Ovid's Met. xii. xvi, Gheterns, lutes, shalemuse, recordours. 1481 ― Reynard xli. (Arb.) 112 They blewe up trompettis and pyped wyth shalymoyses. a 1483 Liber Niger in Househ. Ord. (1790) 48 Whereof sume use trumpettes, sume shalmuse and small pipes. 1503 Privy Purse Exp. Eliz. York (1830) 91 Item to the Kinges mynstrelles with the shalmewes xl s. 1530 Palsgr. 266/1 Schalmesse a pype, chalmeau. |
| δ c 1450 Holland Howlat 762 The dulset, the dulsacordis, the schalme of assay. 1513 Bradshaw St. Werburge i. 1689 Trumpettes blewe vp shalmes and claryons. 1533 Elyot Cast. Helthe ii. xxxiii. (1541) 51 The entrayles..be exercised by blowyng, eyther by constrainte, or plaiynge on shaulmes or sackbottes. 1542 Udall Erasm. Apoph. 223 b, Blowyng on a bagpipe, or a shalme, or on some other facioned pipe. c 1560 A. Scott Poems (S.T.S.) ii. 45 Trumpettis and schalmis w{supt} a schowt Playid or the rink began. 1563–83 Foxe A. & M. I. 242/2 A noyse of trumpets and shalmes. 1565 Cooper Thesaurus, Auletes,..he that plaieth on the flute or shaulme: a pyper. 1575 Laneham Let. (1871) 7 This Pageaunt waz clozd vp with a delectable harmony of Hautboiz, Shalmz, Cornets, and such oother looud muzik. a 1578 Lindesay (Pitscottie) Chron. Scot. (S.T.S.) I. 379 The denner quhair thair was great mirth schallmes draught trumpattis and weir trumpatis. 1578 Lyte Dodoens iv. liv. 514 This kinde [of reed] dyd serue to make tongues for pipes, shaulmes, or trumpettes. 1607 Schol. Disc. agst. Antichr. i. iii. 144 The douting conscience soundeth heavily like a shalme. 1641 Brome Joviall Crew v. (Stage dir.), A flowrish of Shalms. 1705 Motteux Quix. (1733) III. 238 The Moors..only use Kettle-Drums, and a kind of Shaulms like our Waits or Hautboys. 1805 Scott Last Minstr. vi. vi, From the lofty balcony, Rung trumpet, shalm, and psaltery. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. I. vii. v, Paris..claps hands, as the Avengers, with their shrilling drums and shalms tramp by. |
| ε 1533 Cranmer in Ellis Orig. Lett. Ser. i. II. 317 Tromppets, shambes, and other dyverse instrumentes. 1537 Lett. & Papers Hen. VIII, XII. i. 11 Befor y⊇ Scotysh gent. Shamis & dyvers oder instrumentes. 1553 Eden Treat. New Ind. (Arb.) 14 A great noyse of cimbals, drumslades, timbrelles, shames, pipes, flutes. 1555 in Burgh Rec. Edin. (1871) II. 220 James Dromond and his marrowis quha playit befoir Sanct Geill on Sanct Geillis day on the schammes. c 1650 Scottish Field 320 in Percy Folio MS. I. 228 Many shames [15.. Ibid. 450 in Chetham Soc. Misc. II., shalmes] in that showe: with theire shrill pipes. |
| ζ 1513 Douglas æneis ix. x. 67 Wyth tympanis, tawbronis, ȝe war wont to heyr, And bos schawmys of turnyt buschboun tre. 1535 Coverdale Ps. xcvii. 7 With trompettes also & shawmes. 1567 Drant Horace de Arte P. A vij, The shawme [L. tibia] was not as it is nowe with copper wrythed in In trumpet wyse but [etc.]. 1590 Spenser F.Q. i. xii. 13 With shaumes, and trompets, and with clarions sweet. 1611 Beaum. & Fl. Knt. Burning Pestle Prol., Cit. What stately Musick have you? You have Shawnes. Pro. Shawns? no. Cit. No?.. Ralph plaies a stately part, And he must needs have Shawns. 1675 Covel in Early Voy. Levant (Hakl. Soc.) 211 Their [Turkish] pipe is much the same with our trebble shawme [printed shaurne] or Hooboy. 1685 Otway Windsor Castle 193 The Cornet, Flute and Shawme. 1698 Fryer Acc. E. Ind. & P. 30 With the noise of Drum, Shawm, and Fife. 1789 Burney Hist. Mus. II. iv. 270 note, Shawm in old English is a clarinet of low pitch. 1830 Tennyson Dying Swan iii, As when a mighty people rejoice With shawms, and with cymbals, and harps of gold. 1859 R. F. Burton Centr. Afr. in Jrnl. Geog. Soc. XXIX. 240 Of these [musical instruments] the most noisy is a kind of shawm, a straight tube of wood bound with palm fibre and opening like a clarionet. 1865 Swinburne Poems & Ball., St. Dorothy 403 Fair-clothed men that play on shawms and lutes. |
b. fig.
| 1637 N. Whiting Albino & Bellama, Vind. Poesie H 3, I knew the Roscians feature, not his name, Yet tis engraven on the Shaulme of Fame. |
c. transf. An organ-stop resembling the shawm in quality of sound.
| 1852 Seidel Organ 84 The organ in St. Elizabeth's, Breslau, contains a shalm. |
† 2. A player on the shawm. Obs. rare.
| 1481–90 Howard Househ. Bks. (Roxb.) 207 The same day, my Lord gaff to my Lord Glossetyres schalmevis vj.s. viij.d. 1522 Ord. King's Ho. in Gentl. Mag. (1834) CIV. i. 48 When it shall please him to have any Schames, Ministrells, or any such other, to come to his presence. |
3. Comb., as shawm-blower, shawm-player, shawm-playing (adj.).
| 1826 Hor. Smith Tor Hill (1838) I. 260 Scrapers of rebecks, *shawm-blowers, and vagabond pipers. |
| 1540 Palsgr. Acolastus ii. iii. M ij b, Any trompettours or *shaulme players. 1865 Swinburne Chastelard v. i. 171 These shawm-players That walk before strange women and make songs! |
| 1894 Du Maurier Trilby ii. (1895) 60 A lordly, godlike, *shawm-playing, cymbal-banging hero. |
▪ II. shawm, v.1 rare.
(ʃɔːm)
In 5 shalemoyse.
[f. shawm n.]
intr. To play on the shawm.
| 1480 Caxton Ovid's Met. xi. iv, There satte Pan..holdynge a floyte of a rosier, in whiche he shalemoysed & pyped a strange note. 1844 Blackw. Mag. LVI. 96 All our talented performers had turned their instruments, scraped, fluted, twanged, jingled, and shawmed to their hearts' content. |
▪ III. shawm, v.2 north. dial.
(ʃɔːm)
Also shaum.
[Cf. scaum v.]
intr. (See quots. 1855, 1877.) Also trans.
| 1824 J. Hodgson in J. Raine Mem. (1858) II. 49 Keep on our hats and shawm our shins, and be like other Laplanders happy at home. 1855 Whitby Gloss., To Shawm, to warm the knees and toes by sitting with them close to the fire. 1877 Holderness Gloss., Shawm, to sit in front of the fire, with upraised petticoats, to impart warmth to the legs. |