▪ I. † toom, n.1 Obs. (in later use only Sc.)
Forms: 3–6 tome, 4 tom, (toume, towme, toym), 5 toom, 6 tume.
[a. ON. tóm n. neut. emptiness, vacuity, leisure, OSw. tōm leisure, occasion, ODa. tōm time, occasion; f. tómr adj. empty: see toom a.]
Vacant or unoccupied time; time free or sufficient for doing something, leisure; a space or interval of time, a while.
| 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 11656 In hor bed hii founde hom in toune þo hii come..Vor to wel cloþi hom hii ne ȝeue hom no tome. a 1300 Cursor M. 14595 Haf i na tome at ga þar-to. c 1315 Shoreham i. 2119 Þaȝ he by hyre ne ligge nouȝt, Oþer halt hys ine hys house, In tome. 13.. E.E. Allit. P. A. 134 More..Þen I cowþe telle þaȝ I tom hade. 1375 Barbour Bruce v. 642 Or þe toþir had toym to tak His suerde, þe king sic swak him gaiff. c 1430 Syr Gener. (Roxb.) 3126 Of Generides dome To speke had thei nomore tome. 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. (Rolls) II. 18 Ȝit will I tell, for I haif space & tume, How efterwart he set ane seig to Rome. |
b. Time convenient or proper for doing something; opportunity, occasion.
| 13.. E.E. Allit. P. B. 1153 Ȝif ȝe wolde tith [MS. tyȝt] me a tom telle hit I wolde. 1390 Gower Conf. I. 249 His Bacheler, which hadde tome, Whan that his lord be nihte slepte, This Ring,..Out of his Pours awey he dede. c 1440 York Myst. xl. 18 Atte townes for to tarie take we no tent, But take vs tome at þis tyme to talke of sume tales. c 1450 Bk. Curtasye 10 in Babees Bk. 299 Ther-to the nedys to take the tome. |
▪ II. toom, n.2 Sc.
[f. toom v.]
A place where rubbish is or may be emptied out; a ‘coup’.
| 1882 Jamieson, Toom, a place into which rubbish is emptied. 1884 Blackw. Mag. June 817/1 The piled-up rubbish of millions of years which has been cast out here as into one vast ‘toom’. 1894 Crockett Raiders 226 Great tails [of stones] that spread down the mountain steep, like rubble from a quarry toom. |
▪ III. toom, a. Now only Sc. and north. dial.
(tuːm; in mod.Sc. t{obar}m, t{smY}m)
Forms: α. 1 tóm, 3–6 tōme, (5 tombe, toyme, 6 towme), 5–7 toome, 5– toom. β. 4 tum, 4–7 tume, 6 twme, (?) twyme, 9 Sc. tume, tuim. γ. 8–9 teem, 9 dial. teeam.
[OE. tóm = ON. tómr (Norw., Da., Sw. tom); also OS. tômi, tômig, OHG. zuomîg:—OTeut. *tôm-o{supz} or *tôm-u{supz} (OS. tômia-); ulterior origin unknown. Hence teem v.2]
1. Empty, vacant, containing nothing, void of contents; destitute (of something).
| a 900 Cynewulf Christ 1211 Þæt hy mostun man-weorca tome lifᵹan. a 1300 Cursor M. 17798 And yee sal find þair tumbs tome [Gött. tume]. Ibid. 17815 Þai sagh þaa tumbs, tum war þai. a 1340 Hampole Psalter cxliii. 16 Ful of riches and tome of goednes. c 1400 Mandeville (Roxb.) xxxiii. 149 When þai see þe toome vessellez, þai ga and fillez þam with gold. 1435 Misyn Fire of Love ii. iv. 76 Certan of godis lufe þat ar toyme. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 496/2 Toom, or voyde, vacuus. c 1470 Henryson Mor. Fab. i. (Cock & Jasp) iv, As draf, or corne, to fill my tume Intraill. 1508 Kennedie Flyting w. Dunbar 365 Thow has a tome purs. 1560 Rolland Seven Sages (1837) 1 Of all vertew that Ceitie was maid tome. 1727 P. Walker R. Cameron in Biog. Presbyt. (1827) I. 241 There were many toom pulpits in Scotland. 1786 Burns Earnest Cry & Prayer vii, Her mutchkin stoup as toom's a whissle. 1831 Carlyle Sart. Res. iii. vi, The man John Baliol being quite gone, and only the ‘Toom Tabard’ (Empty Gown) remaining. 1855 Robinson Whitby Gloss. s.v., As toom as an egg-shell. |
| γ a 1774 Fergusson Hallowfair Poems (1845) 14 Here, tak a rug, and show your pose Forseeth, my ain's but teem And light the day. 1861 E. Waugh Lake Country 180 He was as helpless as a teeam seck. |
2. fig. Empty, insubstantial, vain, void, futile.
| a 1250 Owl & Night. 1672 Me þuncþ þu ledest ferde tome. 1513 Douglas æneis vi. iv. 120 The tume schaddowis smytyn to haue slane. 1568 Satir. Poems Ref. xlvi. 27 Till deif ȝow w{supt} tome clatter. 1721 Ramsay Prospect of Plenty 46 O'er lang, with empty brag, we have been vain Of toom dominion on the plenteous main. 1786 G. Frazer Fall of Man 157 Blown up with the toom wind of a flattering empty sound. |
† b. Idle, unoccupied. Obs.
| a 1340 Hampole Psalter xlix. 21 Sitand tome [MS.S. ydel], for it likes þe to speke ill. c 1460 Towneley Myst. xxx. 125 To stand thus tome thou gars me grete. |
3. Comb., as toom-handed, toom-headed, toom-skinned adjs.
| c 1400 Mandeville (Roxb.) xxv. 120 Na man comme in my sight tome hand. 1629 Z. Boyd Balme of Gilead 21 (Jam.) A man as we say that hath not harnes, or brain, a toome headed man. 1768 Ross Helenore Introd. 4 Ye're nae toom handed gin your heart be free. 1824 Mactaggart Gallovid. Encycl., Toom-skin'd, hungry. |
▪ IV. toom, v. Sc. and north. dial.
Forms: see prec.
[f. toom a., taking the place of the earlier teem v.2]
1. trans. To empty (a vessel, receptacle, etc.); esp. to empty by drinking, to drink off the contents of.
| 1500–20 Dunbar Poems xxvi. 64 Ay as thay tomit thame of schot, Ffeyndis fild thame new vp to the thrott With gold of allkin prent. 1580 Burgh Rec. Edinb. (1882) IV. 187 The inhabiteris..maist filthely castes furth and tomes thair closettis and pottis on the hie gaitt. 1583 Leg. Bp. St. Androis Pref. 136 Concluding this, we toome a tass of wyne. 1721 Ramsay Prospect of Plenty 106 They'll toom their banks before you reap their crap. 1896 ‘Ian Maclaren’ Kate Carnegie 71 Toom..yir mooth this meenut and say the twenty-third Psalm to the minister. |
2. To empty out, discharge, pour out (water, the contents of a vessel, etc.).
| 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. (Rolls) II. 630 This ilk Banquho, the quhilk the aill gart brew,..Amang the aill gart tume thame in the fat. 1816 Scott Antiq. xxxvi, She..was like to hae toomed it a' out into the slap-basin. 1818 ― Hrt. Midl. xxviii, Our gawsie Scots pint..toomed doun the creature's throat wi' ane whorn. |