▪ I. taum Sc. and north. dial.
(tɔːm)
Also tawm, towm, toum, tome, tom, tam, etc.
[a. ON. taumr a cord, rein, line, etc., in Norw. taum string, line, e.g. on a fishing-rod (Aasen), in Færoese teymur (ey = ON. au) a short string at the end of a fishing line to which the hook is secured. Cognate with OE. téam line, team, OHG. zoum, Ger. zaum, OS. tôm, Du. toom rein, bridle: see team n.]
A fishing-line, usually one of horse-hair twisted. Locally, also, a string of other kinds (E.D.D.).
| a 1733 Shetland Acts 11 in Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scot. (1892) XXVI. 198 All lines and tomes made of horse-hair. 1802 Sibbald Chron. Scot. Poetry Gloss., Towm. 1818 Hogg Brownie of Bodsb. etc. I. ix. 158 [He] cleekit a hantle o' geds and perches [out of the loch] with his toum. 1825 Brockett N.C. Words, Tawm, Tam, a fishing line. ‘A lang twine tam’. 1828 Craven Gloss., Taum, a fishing line. 1851 Cumbld. Gloss., Tome, a hair line for fishing. 1855 Robinson Whitby Gloss., A Tawm, a fishing line and rod. ‘A fishing tawm’. 1904 Daily Chron. 19 Feb. 3/2 When a Scotch fisherman speaks of his line as a ‘taum’, he makes rather a fine use of the Old Norse word for ‘bridle’. |
▪ II. taum(e
obs. and dial. ff. talm v., to faint.