▪ I. team, n.
(tiːm)
Forms: 1–4 team, tem, (2–7 theam, theme), 3–6 teme, 4 teom(e, tyme, (3–7 them), 4–7 teeme, teem (9 dial.), 6 teyme, 6–7 teame, 7 taime, Sc. thame, 7– team.
[OE. téam = OFris. tám, WFris. team, bridle, also progeny, family, line of descendants; OS. tôm, MDu., Du. toom bridle, rein, Du. dial. toom brood, NFris. toom rope, LG. toom draught with the net; OHG., MHG. zoum, Ger. zaum bridle, rein, ON. taumr rein, bridle, rope, cord:—OTeut. *taumo{supz}, prob. from *taugmo{supz} the action of drawing, draught, from ablaut series teuh-, tauh-, tuh-, tug-, to draw, L. dūcĕre to lead: cf. tee v.1 The original literal sense is not found in OE., but perh. appears later in sense 9; our sense 1 is known also in OFris., and in Dutch dialects. The developed branches II and III are only in Eng. German has, in senses 1, 2, 8, 9, the cognate zucht:—OTeut. *tuhti{supz}.]
I. † 1. a. The bringing forth of children; childbearing. Obs. [Cf. MHG. kint ziehen to bring forth children, Ger. viehzucht cattle breeding.]
| c 1000 ælfric Hom. in Assmann Ags. Hom. (1889) 20/159 Þæt eald wif sceole ceorles brucan, þonne heo forwerod byð and teames ætealdod. Ibid. 38/339 His wif..wearð mid..Esau and Iacob, and heo ᵹeswac ða teames. c 1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 133 God ches two lif holi men him [Seint iohan baptiste] to fader and to moder, þe weren boðe teames ateald. |
b. A family or brood of young animals; now
dial. applied to a litter of pigs, a brood of ducks. In
quot. a 1225
fig.| c 1000 ælfric Hom. II. 10 Beon: hi tymað heora team mid clænnysse. a 1225 Ancr. R. 336 Drauh togedere al þene team [of sins] under þe moder. 14.. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 579/39 Educamen, a teme of checonn. 1511 MS. Acc. St. John's Hosp., Canterb., For a teme off ix pygys iiijs iijd. 1767 G. White Selborne xi, We have a few teams of ducks, bred in the moors. 1887 Kentish Gloss., Team, a litter of pigs or a brood of ducks. |
† 2. Offspring, progeny, issue, family, line of descendants; race, stock;
cf. bairn-team.
Obs.| 902 in Thorpe Charters (1865) 152 Ðreo witeþeowe men..ða me salde bisceop & þa hiwan to ryhtre æhta & hire team. c 950 Lindisf. Gosp. Mark xii. 21 Ðe æfterra onfeng ða ilca & dead wæs & ne ðes forleort sed vel team [Vulg. semen]. c 1000 ælfric Saints' Lives (1885) I. 432 Eall his team wearð ᵹewurðod þurh god. c 1000 ― Gen. v. 31 Rubric, Hu he Noe bearh and his wife and his teame æt þam miclan flode. a 1225 Juliana 60 Weox swa his team þat ne mahte hit namon tellen. 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 5241 Is foure gode sones woxe uaste ynou, Adelbold & adelbriȝt, adelred & alfred, Þis was a stalwarde tem [v.rr. teme, tyme]. c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 4794 Cassibolan was Androcheus eem, Luddes broþer of þat teem. c 1330 ― Chron. (1810) 20 Ethelbert..Adelwolfes broþer, of Egbrihtes team. c 1435 Torr. Portugal 2022 This child is come of gentille teme. |
II. 3. a. A set of draught animals; two or more oxen, horses, dogs, or other animals harnessed to draw together. (Plural, after a numeral,
team.)
| [c 825 Vesp. Hymns v. 34 Mid feoðurtemum [L. cum quadrigis].] c 1000 ælfric Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 120/32–3 Imus, oxa on þam forman teame. Binus, on þam æfteran teame. a 1250 Owl & Night. 776 An hors..drahþ bi sweore [v.r. biuore] grete temes. c 1290 St. Lucy 129 in E.E. Poems (1862) I. 105 Stronge temes he let fecche: of Oxen menie on. 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. vii. 127 Bote Treuþe schal techen ow his Teome for to dryue. 1377 Ibid. B. ix. 257 Grace gaue Piers a teme [C. xxii. 262 teome] foure gret oxen. 1486 Nottingham Rec. III. 249 Drawyng þerof..with a teme of oxen. 1590 Spenser F.Q. iii. iv. 33 A teme of Dolphins raunged in aray Drew the smooth charett of sad Cymoent. 1621 G. Sandys Ovid's Met. xii, A log he tooke Which scarce two teeme could draw. 1633 G. Herbert Temple, Praise iii. iii, Not all the teams of Albion in a row Can hale or draw it out of doore. 1688 Andros Tracts III. 89 Greatly disappointed by this loss [of a horse] which was all the Teame he had. 1805 W. Taylor in Ann. Rev. III. 258 The cannons are..dragged about with a team of eight horses. 1835 Sir J. Ross Narr. 2nd Voy. xix. 292 Drawn by a team of six good dogs. 1840 Thirlwall Greece VII. lviii. 298 A thousand team of cattle conveyed the timber to the coast. 1870 Morris Earthly Par. II. iii. 283 With jingling bit and trace Came the grey team from field. |
b. transf. The stock or ‘lot’ of horses (or other beasts) belonging to one owner or stable.
dial.| 1655 tr. Com. Hist. Francion vii. 6, I would have laid Pyebald against the best Mare in my Brother-in-Laws teem. 1876 Surrey Gloss. s.v., ‘A good team of cows’ is the general expression for a nice lot of cows. |
4. a. fig. Applied to persons drawing together.
| 1614 B. Jonson Barth. Fair ii. v, 'Twere like falling into a whole Shire of butter: they had need be a teeme of Dutchmen, should draw him out. 1668 Bp. Hopkins Serm., Vanity (1685) 123 They are so enslaved to the work of the devil, that he puts them into his team, makes them draw and strain for their iniquities. 1748 Richardson Clarissa (1811) VII. x. 61, I will add a string of bells to it, to complete thee for the fore-horse of the idiot team. 1837 Carlyle Fr. Rev. I. iii. vi, When a team of Twenty-five Millions begins rearing, what is Loménie's whip? |
b. transf. A number of persons associated in some joint action; now
esp. a definite number of persons forming a side in a match, in any team sport; hence, a group collaborating in their professional work or in some enterprise or assignment.
In
Shoemaking, etc., a company of workmen each of whom performs one operation in completing a process.
| a 1529 ? Skelton Vox Populi 204 All theise men goo to wracke, That are the body and the staye Of your graces realme allwaye... Thei must be..Your streinghe and your teme, For to defende your realme. 1622 Massinger & Dekker Virg. Martyr iv. ii, Hear me, my little team of villains, hear me. 1644–7 Cleveland Char. Lond. Diurn. 6 Beleeve him [Cromwell] as he whistles to his Cambridge Teeme of Committee-men. 1846 W. Denison Cricket: Sk. Players 32 Hayward..having become a resident at Cambridge, joined the ‘team’ of that distinguished Club. 1859 Dickens T. Two Cities i. ii, The team had capitulated and returned to their duty. 1874 Bell's Life in London 14 Mar. 5/2 Although the game was won by Scotland..the English team played splendidly. 1885 Manch. Exam. 10 July 5/1 The Northern [cricket] team, batting first, were disposed of for 192. 1888 Daily News 20 July 7/3 ‘A team’ [in boot-making] here would consist of three men, while in America there would be six in ‘a team’. 1902 Westm. Gaz. 28 Apr. 5/2 They were beaten by a [football] team superior to themselves. Ibid., The two teams took up their positions. 1921 G. B. Shaw Back to Methuselah ii. 53 You will find yourself at the head of a rabble of Socialists and anti-Socialists, of Jingo Imperialists and Little Englanders,..of Syndicalists and Bureaucrats..and the impossibility of keeping such a team together will force you to sell the pass again to the solid Conservative Opposition. 1923 N.Y. Times 15 July vi. 1/6 The method of the comedy team remains more or less unvaried. The team is composed, in the first place, of a comedian and a ‘straight’ man. 1947 Ann. Reg. 1946 314 To prevent further clashes General Marshall organised ‘teams’ composed of an American, a Nationalist, and a Communist member, to visit both parties and to try to create a better spirit [in China]. 1951 Times 26 Nov. 2/5 The report..has been compiled by a team from the [metal-finishing] industry which visited the United States last year. 1965 M. Spark Mandelbaum Gate iii. 66 Russeifa's one of the most conscientious men in the medical team. 1972 N.Y. Law Jrnl. 24 Oct. 15/9 Team I is assigned to preside on the circuit for the October 1972 Term. 1978 Nagel's Encycl.-Guide: China 272 The basic cells of agrarian collectivisation are the brigade and the team for the moment. |
c. spec. A gang.
slang (chiefly
Criminals').
| 1950 in Partridge Dict. Underworld Add. (1961) 814/1. 1955 D. W. Maurer in Publ. Amer. Dialect Soc. xxiv. 83 Sometimes a team [of pickpockets] is two handed, while a troupe is three handed or larger. 1959 Observer 1 Mar. 10/1 Mainly the older brothers in long-resident..families, they are known and feared by other ‘teams’ (gangs) in North London as the Punchers. 1970 P. Laurie Scotland Yard viii. 184 We had a whisper about a team going to do a certain pay van. 1973 ‘J. Patrick’ Glasgow Gang Observed ii. 21 The boys themselves never used the word ‘gang’, always ‘team’. |
5. a. Two or more beasts, or a single beast, along with the vehicle which they draw; a horse and cart, or wagon with two horses (now
dial.); also,
U.S. local, a cart, wagon, or other vehicle of burden for one horse (
single team) or two horses (
double team).
| 1641 Boston (U.S.) Town Records 27 Sept., The Richer..Inhabitants shall afford three dayes' worke of one man, except such as have Teames. 1675 3 Inhumane Murthers 2 He being out with his Father-in-Law's Teame..to fetch Coals. 1688 R. Holme Armoury iii. 339/2 A Waine, or Oxe Taime, when drawn by Oxen, and hath a Waine Cop. 1787 (Mar. 1) Massachusetts Statute (Bridge-toll), Toll..for each team drawn by more than one beast, nine pence. 1806 (Mar. 4) Ibid., Toll..for each cart, sled, sleigh, or other team of burthen, drawn by one beast, sixteen cents. 1798 Sporting Mag. XI. 48 He was returning from Cowley with a loaded team. 1898 Boston Even. Transcript 23 Feb. 16/3 To make the hill less perilous to the poor horses obliged to drag teams up or down it. |
† b. A team-load.
Obs. rare.
| 1789 Trans. Soc. Arts VII. 36 The quantity of manure was two teams of dung to each pit, value three pence per team. |
c. fig. Usually
a whole team.
U.S. colloq.| 1832 Polit. Examiner (Shelbyville, Kentucky) 17 Nov. 4/2 ‘Whoop! Ain't I a horse?’ ‘A whole team, I should think,’ said Rainsford. 1832 [see half n. 7 h]. 1843 ‘J. Slick’ High Life N.Y. II. 193, I tell you what, he's a hull team, and a horse to let. 1854 Knickerbocker XLIV. 416 (Th.), Jump him up when you will, and you'll find him a ‘full team’ at anything. 1856 G. D. Brewerton War in Kansas 270 Avow yourself ready to declare that..a clear⁓grit Yankee woman quite equal, upon an emergency, to what, in vulgar parlance, is quaintly styled ‘a whole team, and a dog under the wagon’ to boot. 1922 Dialect Notes V. 180 Whole team an(d) little dog under the waggin', n. phr. Used facetiously to indicate one's self-importance, energy, etc. Alabama. |
6. A flock of wild ducks or other birds flying in a line or string.
| 1688 R. Holme Armoury ii. xiii. 311/1 Team of ducks. 1697 Dryden æneid vii. 965 Like a long team of snowy swans on high, Which clap their wings, and cleave the liquid sky. 1726 Pope Odyss. xix. 627 A team of twenty geese (a snow-white train!). 1720 Humourist Ded. 5 [He] took a trip to your Dominions upon a Team of wild Geese. 1848 H. W. Herbert Field Sports II. App. B. 334. 1871 ‘Stonehenge’ Brit. Sports i. ix. §1 Wild-fowl Nomencl... A ‘team’ of ducks (when in the air). |
7. Phrases.
a. Naval: see
quots.| 1829 Marryat F. Mildmay viii, Nothing can be more dull and monotonous than a blockading cruize ‘in the team’, as we call it; that is, the ships of the line stationed to watch an enemy. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk. s.v., Ships blockading a port, being generally formed in a line, are said to be ‘in the team’. |
† b. to lay in team: to couple, join together.
| 13.. E.E. Allit. P. C. 37, I schall me poruay pacyence, & play me with boþe; For in þe tyxte, þere þyse two arn in teme layde, Hit arne fettled in on forme, þe forme and þe laste. |
III. In Anglo-Saxon Law.
(In this sense recorded only in
Eng.; but in
MHG. the cognate
vb. ziehen was used to express the bringing of an action, and the action is expressed by
zug in
Gewährzug.)
8. a. In a suit for the recovery of goods alleged to have been stolen, the action or procedure by which the holder transferred or referred it back to a third person (generally the party from whom he received the goods) to defend the title to them; vouching to warranty.
Obs. exc. Hist. In
med. (Anglo) L.
advocatio ad warantum; in
Anglo-Fr. revoche garaunt; called by Liebermann
Gewährzug, by Schmid
Gewährschaftszug (
Gesetze Glossar
s.v.).
| a 800 Laws Hlothhære & Eadric (c 685) c. 16 Þonne tæme he to wic to cyngæs sele to þam mæn þe him sealde, ᵹif he þane wite and æt þam teame ᵹebrengen mæᵹe. 901–924 Laws Eadweard i. c. 1 §1 And ᵹif hwa butan porte ceapiᵹe, ðonne sy he cyninges oferhyrnesse scyldiᵹ; and gange se team þeah forð, oð þæt man wite, hwær he oðstande. 946–c 961 Laws Edgar i. c. 4 Buton þara oðer hæbbe, nele him mon nænne team [Lat. text cenningam] ᵹeþafian. 960–975 in Earle Land Charters 201 Ða tymde Wulfstan hine to æðelstane æt Sunnanbyrᵹ. Ða cende he tem, let ðone forberstan, forbeh ðone andaᵹen. ? 997 Laws æthelred iii. c. 6 ælc team and ælc ordal beo on þæs kyninges byriᵹ. 1027–34 Laws Cnut ii. c. 24 §1 And ᵹyf..he þyllice ᵹewitnesse næbbe, ne beo þær nan team, ac aᵹyfe man þam aᵹenfriᵹan his aᵹen. 1130–35 Laws Edw. Conf. c. 22 §3 Team [v.rr. Theam, Them]: quod, si aliquis aliquid interciebatur [v.r. intertietur] super aliquem, et ipse non poterit warantum suum habere, erit foresfactura et iusticia; similiter de calumpniatore, si deficiebat. 12.. Leges Burgorum c. 12 in Scot. Stat. (1844) I. 335 Per legem burgi se defendet nisi sit de prodicione vel de them [c 1400 transl. thruch lauch of burgh he sall were hym bot gif it be of tresoun or of theme]. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) II. 95 [see also in c] Theam, Frensche, reuoche garant [1432–50 tr. Higden ibid., Thean, that is, to lawde the auctor, in Frenche, reuouche g[a]raunte; orig. Theam [v.r. them], id est, laudare auctorem; Gallice, reuoucher garaunt]. 1628 Coke [see c]. 1900 A. Lang Hist. Scotl. I. vi. 148. |
b. The right or prerogative of jurisdiction in a suit of
téam, together with the fees and profits thence accruing; from the 11th c. usually included in charters granting land (in which it regularly followed
toll,
esp. in the formula
with sac and soc, toll and team, infangthief, etc.).
Saca and socne (without
toll and team) is first found in a charter of 1020 or later (see
infangthief);
toll and team (alone) is known first in a charter
a 1023; the formula combining them appears just after the accession of Edward the Confessor, 1042, and occurs in numerous charters ascribed to him, mostly existing only in later copies. It occurs also in the Laws of Wm. I and Henry I. The meaning of
team was still known when the ‘Laws of
Edw. the Confessor’ were compiled
c 1130–35 (see above). After the 12th c. it was an obsolete term, the meaning of which was largely a matter of conjecture, and was generally mistaken: see c.
| 1066 Charter Edw. Conf. in Thorpe Charters (1865) 405 Donavi..abbati Eadwino..consuetudinem que dicitur teames. a 1400 in Scot. Stat. (1844) I. 742 De Curia de theme. 1664 Spelman Gloss. 533 s.v. Team al. Theam, Theam significare videtur jurisdictionem cognoscendi in Curiâ suâ de advocationibus, sive intertiatis; hoc est..de vocatis ad Warrantiam. 1895 Pollock & Maitland Hist. Eng. Law II. 157 note, The team of the Anglo-Norman charters seems to be the right to hold a court into which foreigners, i.e. persons not resident within the jurisdiction, may be vouched. |
| 1017–23 Charter of ælfweard Abbot (Earle Land Charters 236), And toll and team sy aᵹifen into þam mynstre. 1046–60 Charter of Ealdred Bishop (Kemble No. 805), Ut habeant et possideant iure aecclesiastico perpetua haereditate, cum saca et socne, tolle et teame, reditibus et campis [etc.]. 1046–60 Charter Edw. Conf. (Kemble No. 829, later copy), And icc an heom eft alswa ðat hi habben ðarto sacc and socne, toll and team, infangeneðef and flemenesfermð [etc.]. a 1066 [see infangthief]. 1090–1135 Laws of Wm. I, c. 2 §3 E cil francs hom ki ad e sache e soche e toll e tem e infangentheof, se il est enplaidé [etc.]. 1114–18 Laws Hen. I, c. 20 §2 Archiepiscopi, episcopi, comites..sacam et socnam habent, tol et theam et infongentheaf. 12.. Reg. Maj. i. ii. in Scot. Stat. (1844) I. App. i. 234 Qui habent et tenent terras suas cum soko et sako furca et fossa toll et them et infangandthefe et vtfangandthefe. [Skene tr. Judges..quha hes power to hald their courts, with sock, sack, gallous, and pit, toll, and thame, infang-thief, and outfang-thief.] 1657 Sir W. Mure Hist. Rowallane Wks. (S.T.S.) II. 241 The Mures..being free Barones y{supr}of, holding in cheife of the crowne, infeft cum furca et fossa, sock et sack, thole et theam, infang theif et outfang theif. 1871 Freeman Norm. Conq. IV. xviii. 208 One among them, whether by seniority or by hereditary right, further enjoyed the profitable privileges of toll and team. |
¶ c. By the end of the 12th c., the process of
téam being obsolete, the meaning of the word was to a great extent forgotten. Legal writers erroneously explained it from sense 2, as ‘the property of the lord in the
team or offspring and posterity of his serfs’.
This appears in a 12–13th c. Latin version of a charter of Edward the Confessor, whence it was regularly repeated by later writers, some of whom, as Higden, Rastall, Skene, and Coke, offer both explanations.
| 1200–25 Latin version of Charter of Edw. Conf. (Kemble No. 843) [..saca and socna, toll and team] cum priuilegio habendi totam suorum seruorum propaginem. c 1250 Expositio Vocab. in Placita de Quo Warranto (1818) 275/2 Them, aver progeny de vos humes. c 1290 Fleta i. xlvii. §9 Them, acquietantiam amerciamentorum sequelæ propriorum suorum. 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) II. 95 [see also in a] Somtyme Theam is i-cleped þe sewte of bonde men [orig. Them..quandoque dicitur sequela nativorum]. 1579 Expos. Terms Law 177 b, Them, that is that you shall haue all y⊇ generations of your Villaines wyth ther suites & cattel wheresoeuer they shall bee found in England. 1597 Skene De Verb. Sign., Theme, is power to haue servandes and slaues, quhilk ar called nativi, bondi, villani, and all Barronnes infeft with Theme, hes the same power: For vnto them all their bond-men, their bairnes, gudes, and geare properly perteinis, swa that they may dispone thereupon at their pleasure. 1628 Coke On Litt. ii. xi. §172. 116 Theme (sometime written Theame corruptly) is an old Saxon word, and signifieth Potestatem habendi in nativos sive villanos cum eorum sequelis, terris, bonis & catallis. But Teame, sometime corruptly written Theam,..is also an old Saxon word and signifieth where a man cannot produce his Warrant of that which he bought according to his Voucher. 1895 Pollock & Maitland Hist. Eng. Law I. 566 Then [13th c.] team is taken to mean the brood, the offspring, the ‘sequela’ of one's villeins; but this we may be sure is a mistake. |
¶ d. At other times
team was
app. taken as a mere complement to
toll, and was evidently thought to be some kind of impost.
| 1456 Sir G. Haye Law Arms (S.T.S.) 238 Pilgrymes..suld nouthir pay toll na teme, aucht na custume, na payage, quhill thai ar on thair voyage. |
IV. Later senses related to II.
(But sense 9 may represent an Anglicizing of
ON. taumr. In that sense also, apparently sometimes associated with L.
tēmo a beam, pole, tongue of a plough, carriage, cart, etc.)
9. Part of the gear by which oxen or horses were harnessed to a plough, harrow, or wain. In
mod. dialect use, ‘a chain to which oxen are yoked in lieu of a pole’ (
Eng. Dial. Dict.); ‘in plough equipment, the main or leading chain, by which the whole of the oxen or horses drag the implement’ (F. T. Elworthy).
foot-team, the foot-chain of a plough.
| c 1350 Nominale Gall.-Angl. 858 Trecters et temons, Plowestryngges and tem. c 1425 Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 665/20 Nomina pertinencia ad carectariam... Hoc plaustrum, wayne. Hec tema, teme. Hec torques, wythe. 1483 Cath. Angl. 379/2 A Teme, temo. 1523 Fitzherb. Husb. §4 Yf he wyll haue his plough to go a narowe forowe..he setteth his fote-teame in the nycke nexte to the ploughe-beame. Ibid. §15 An oxe-harowe..the formes[t] slote must be bygger than the other, bycause the fote-teame shall be fastened to the same with a shakyll, or a withe to drawe by. 1530 Palsgr. 279/2 Teme of a plough or oxen, atellee. c 1540 Inv. Monast. Lylleshull in Archæologia XLIII. 209, iij waynes with themes and other thyngys necessary. 1570 Levins Manip. 208/17 A Teame, cheane, temo, onis. 1575 Richmond Wills (Surtees) 255, ij yooks furnysshed viij{supd}, ij teymes, j horse draught, j buck shackill, j plewghryng, ij paire toggwethes, ij axill nayles iijs. iiij{supd}. 1605–6 in N. Riding Rec. (1884) I. 27 Duos torques ferreos, Angl. Iron horse-teames. 1616 Surfl. & Markh. Country Farme 533 When they draw two and two together in the bearegeares,..then there is needfull the plow-cleuise, and teame [etc.]. 1788 W. Marshall Yorksh. Gloss., Team, an ox-chain, passing from yoke to yoke. 1889 N.W. Linc. Gloss., Team,..(2) harness for a draught of horses or oxen. |
10. dial. A chain (generally).
| 1828 Craven Gloss., Team, a strong iron chain. 1840 Spurdens Suppl. to Forby's Voc. E. Anglia s.v., A string or chain of sausages is called ‘a team of links’. 1904 Eng. Dial. Dict., Team..an iron chain usually with a ring at one end and hook at the other. Used for putting round stones to fasten the crane chain to when lifting. (W. Yorksh.) |
V. 11. attrib. and
Comb., as, in sense 3,
team-beast,
team-driving,
team-horse,
team-labour,
team leader,
team-length,
team-master,
team-plough; in sense 4 b,
team-building,
team-game,
team manager,
team-match,
team-play,
team player,
team-race,
team sport,
team-system,
team-training; (in a team ministry; see below)
team rector,
team vicar; also
team-band, a fastening for securing the drawing-gear to the plough, etc.;
team-boat, a boat drawn or propelled by horse-power;
team handball, a game played by two teams of seven players each on a rectangular court using a ball directed only with the hands;
team honours, honours awarded to a sporting team;
† team-land,
= plough-land;
team-man (also
teamsman), (
a) a teamster; (
b) with preceding descriptive
adj., a member of a sporting team who co-operates (well or badly) with his colleagues;
team-mate, (
a)
= teamster (Webster 1934); (
b) a fellow member of a team;
team ministry, a group of clergy of incumbent status who minister jointly to several parishes under the leadership of the team rector (contrasted with
group ministry, in which all members function as equals); the administration of a scheme for such an operation;
team policing, community policing;
team race, a race which is won by the team whose members finish on aggregate in higher positions than their opponents;
team-railway, a railway system worked by horse-power (Ogilvie 1882);
team-shovel: see
quot.;
team spirit, the spirit of subordination of personal interests to those of the team;
team-talk, a talk addressed to a team, or a discussion amongst a team;
team-teach v. intr. and trans.;
team-teaching vbl. n., the teaching of students by a team of teachers working together; hence (as back-formation)
† team-ware, (
a) a team of horses, etc.; (
b)
= team-land;
team-work, (
a) work done with a team of beasts; (
b) the combined action of a team of players, etc.; (
c) work done by a team of operatives; (
d) work done by persons working as a team,
i.e. with concerted effort.
| 1808 Vancouver Agric. Devon 115 A swing-plough with a beam..at the end of this beam is occasionally fastened a graduated iron to which the *team-band is affixed. 1847–78 Halliwell, Team-bands, the same as Start-chains. |
| 1573–80 Baret Alv. T 96 A *Teame beast, euerie beast that draweth or beareth burdens. |
| 1818 Pict. New York 222 A *team or horse boat sails..to Brooklyn every quarter of an hour. 1820 Boston (U.S.) Daily Advert. 26 Apr. 2/4 A team-boat propelled by twenty-five horses. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Team-boat, a ferry-boat worked with horses by paddle-wheel propulsion. 1895 Forum (N.Y.) May 378 The ‘team-boat’, or ferry-boat propelled by horse power,..ran for some time in competition with steam ferries. |
| 1946 Nature 12 Oct. 497/1 These are essential conditions for successful *team-building and the inherent loyalty it implies. |
| 1893 Westm. Gaz. 3 Feb. 10/3 As recently as last week he was..able to give lessons in *team-driving. |
| 1907 Daily Chron. 18 Jan. 9/5 The very essence of all *team games is unity of action. |
| 1970 Jrnl. Health, Phys. Educ. & Recreation Mar. 46/1 To the uninformed spectator, the game of *team handball would look like a combination of football, basketball, and lacrosse... It is often confused with a popular squash-related sport also dubbed ‘handball’. 1978 Official Associated Press Sports Almanac 764 The sport spread to gymnasiums throughout Germany and Eastern Europe and full recognition of team handball was achieved when it was included in the 1936 Berlin Olympics. |
| 1928 Daily Mail 7 Aug. 15/5 Eagle Road Club secured *team honours. |
| 1698 Fryer Acc. E. India & P. 58 Such Trappings as our finest *Team-Horses in England wear. |
| 1778 W. H. Marshall Minutes Agric., Digest 18 Sheep are profitable..because they save, considerably, the expence of *team-labour. |
| 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) VIII. 177 Iohn..toke anon tribute of everiche *teme lond [orig. hyda, id est carucata] in Engelond þre schelynges. 1627 Speed England xxviii. §3 In the Booke of Domesday Caruca—the Teame-land— was in quantitie of Acres proportioned to the qualitie of Soile. 1904 N. & Q. 10th Ser. I. 354/2 The extent of the plough or teamland. |
| 1962 E. Snow Other Side of River (1963) lviii. 440 They chose me as *team leader. 1977 R.A.F. News 11–24 May 8/4 Deputy team leader Chf Tech Mick Young. 1977 Times 9 Sept. 3/5 Team leaders, the preferred name for those formerly known as charge hands. |
| 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) VII. 225 I-leide þre *teme lengþe from þe stok. |
| 1867 Morley Burke vi. 56 He would talk of..the turnips, and the hay, with the *team-men and the farm-bailiff. 1954 A. G. Moyes Austral. Batsmen x. 151 A fighter who was an excellent team-man and therefore most valuable. 1976 J. Snow Cricket Rebel 138 His brother Eric [Bedser]..was overheard to say that I was not a good team man. |
| 1895 Wales Apr. 168/1 He was able to drive a furrow to the delight of even the most envious of surrounding *teamsmen. 1909 Daily News 1 Mar. 12 Their demands are for an increase of wages of teamsmen to 28s. |
| 1926 E. Hemingway Sun also Rises xix. 247, I had coffee out on the terrasse with the *team manager of one of the big bicycle manufacturers. He said it had been a very pleasant race. 1976 Evening Post (Nottingham) 15 Dec. 23/1 Team manager John Sherriff believes the side is now on the right track. |
| 1894 Westm. Gaz. 13 Dec. 7/2 The Manhattan Chess Club has sent by mail to the British Chess Club a challenge for a *team match of five boards, to occupy one sitting, the moves being cabled. |
| 1915 M. E. McLoughlin Tennis as I play It xi. 231 Service and the net position go together, the initial stroke giving the server the opportunity to reach the net where his *team-mate is already stationed. 1942 Berrey & Van den Bark Amer. Thes. Slang §440/4 Confederate or partner..team-mate. 1954 W. K. Hancock Country & Calling viii. 223 An orderly row of boxes into which to put the facts that he and his team-mates (for ‘team work’ is very much the fashion) are collecting. 1977 Times 15 July (Motor Racing Suppl.) p. vi/1 James Hunt..was put out of the race by a crash... His German team-mate.. had retired three laps earlier. |
| 1964 L. Paul Deployment & Payment of Clergy xv. 142 One much-publicised remedy for manpower shortage is a group or *team ministry. Caution is necessary here... Group or team ministries in town may cut down ‘the plant’, or what a tradesman might call the points of service, but they ought eventually to increase the total urban ministry rather than decrease it. 1968 Pastoral Measure ii. 13 in Parl. Papers 1967–68 XVII. 843 A pastoral scheme may provide for the establishment of a team ministry for the area of any benefice, that is to say, for the sharing of the cure of souls in that area by a team of ministers consisting of —(a) the incumbent of the benefice which, if it is not or would not otherwise be a rectory, shall be a rectory; (b) one or more other ministers who shall have the title of vicar and a status equal to that of an incumbent of a benefice. 1980 Oxf. Diocesan Mag. May 15/2 The faint hearts in the Diocese who see team ministry as a threat. |
| 1895 Outing (U.S.) XXVII. 247 Our game [Canadian football]..abounding in combined skill and *team play unknown to English experts. |
| 1886 H. Chadwick Art of Batting 7 The practical effect of all this is to destroy a batsman's ambition to excel as a ‘*team player’ in batting. 1980 Newsweek 17 Nov. 13/3 Reagan wants ‘team players’ for his Administration—men and women loyal to him personally and to his philosophy generally, willing to argue over policy, but not fundamental ideology. |
| 1805 Dickson Pract. Agric. I. 346 The breast-spade or common *team-plough..will be found preferable. |
| 1977 J. Wambaugh Black Marble (1978) iv. 42 Every few years the brass had to come up with some new catchword to justify the budget. ‘*Team policing.’ |
| 1976 Southern Even. Echo (Southampton) 10 Nov. 21/7 Southampton were always in control in the *team race and were easy team winners from Portsmouth, through Tony Nixon 5th, Bryan Dawkins 8th, and Malcolm Beavis 10th. |
| 1976 Milton Keynes Express 11 June 15/1 He will be assisting the Rev Christopher Drummond, *team rector from the Christ Church Centre at Stantonbury. |
| 1877 Knight Dict. Mech., *Team-shovel, an earth-scraper. A scoop drawn by horses or oxen. |
| 1928 Britain's Industrial Future (Liberal Industrial Inquiry) iii. xvi. 195 The ‘fellowship-bonus’ system..evokes the *team-spirit. 1938 R. G. Collingwood Princ. Art iv. 74 These sports, we are told, inculcate a team-spirit. 1976 F. Muir Frank Muir Bk. 96 The schools..were sending forth..superbly fit chaps, light on imagination but strong on team-spirit. |
| 1964 G. McDonald Running Scared iii. 37 He had never gone out for any *team sport. |
| 1895 Daily News 15 Apr. 2/3 The ‘*team system’ [in boot-making] is also strongly resisted, as tantamount to a decline in the remuneration. |
| 1947 A. P. Gaskell Big Game 12 And then of course, the *team-talk on Friday night. The coach would stand on the platform and start on his old game of building us up to fighting pitch. 1960 V. Jenkins Lions Down Under viii. 114 The post-mortem at a team-talk in Timaru was a searching one. |
| 1976 Science News 28 Feb. 135 Two answers to this problem..are to teach science ethics to college students by presenting them realistic case studies and to bring industrial scientists into the universities to *team-teach. 1979 Maledicta III. 144 Mary Salawuh Warren, a Yoruba, has team-taught Yoruba and other West African languages with her husband, D. M. Warren, at Iowa State University and in Peace Corps training programs. |
| 1960 Washington Post 20 Dec. b2 Principal Harold Wilson..tallied the benefits of *team teaching at his school. 1964 Observer 13 Sept. 11/8 Team teaching, in which a corps of teachers work with a very large group, already has a long history in the United States. |
| 1976 Church Times 8 Oct. 17/5 *Team vicar required for church of St. Martin, Southdene, to serve large neighbourhood unit and to work as a member of a large established team. 1981 Ibid. 10 July 17/4 (Advt.), Applications invited for team vicar to complete established team of three. Priest appointed will have particular pastoral responsibility for four attractively-situated villages. |
| 1567 Golding Ovid's Met. v. (1593) 125 His sacred *teeme-ware through the aire to drive abroad agen. 1577 Harrison England i. viii. in Holinshed I. 12/2, 600 families which are all one with Hidelandes, Plowghlandes, Carrucates, or Temewares. |
| 1828 Webster, *Team-work, work done by a team, as distinguished from personal labor. New England. 1886 S.W. Linc. Gloss., Team-work, work done with wagon and horses; a regular item in a way-warden's Account Book. 1887 Mrs. H. Campbell Prisoners of Poverty ii. 26 (Funk) What is known as ‘team work’, flaps [of shirts] being done by one, bosoms by another, and so on. 1909 World To-day (U.S.) Sept. 3 (heading) Team work in municipal progress. a 1911 Mod. U.S. The team-work of the [base-ball] nine is excellent. 1954 [see team-mate above]. 1977 Lancet 23 Apr. 899/2 We need hospitals, hostels, and homes, but we must be sure that by effective communication and teamwork (and these do not cost money), the service we offer is of the highest. |
▪ II. team, v. (
tiːm)
Also 6
teem.
[f. team n. II.: cf. to yoke, to harness, etc. A late formation, the original derivative verb being teem v.1] 1. a. trans. To harness (beasts) in a team; to yoke. Also
fig.| 1552 Huloet, Teame horses togyther, dextero, as. Ibid., Teame oxen togither, iugo, as. 1597 Middleton Wisdom Solomon xiv. 1 The shipman cannot team dame Tethys waves. 1733 Tull Horse-Hoeing Husb. xxiii. 172 Every Workman knows how to team the Limbers. 1875 Encycl. Brit. II. 663/1 The horses [in a horse-artillery battery] are teamed in pairs,—lead, centre, and wheel. |
b. intr. Chiefly with
up: to join together in or as in a team; to ally oneself or get together
with someone.
Occas. trans.| 1932 W. Faulkner Light in August iv. 86 Like man and wife for three years, until Brown and him teamed up. 1932 J. T. Flynn God's Gold vii. x. 314 Whetmore was not Rockefeller's agent, but a lawyer and independent promoter who teamed up with the Merritts and worked with them. 1950 D. Hyde I Believed ii. 14 The war-wounded were everywhere... Blinded, they teamed up into bands. 1965 J. Lawlor in J. Gibb Light on C. S. Lewis 73, I had thought of myself as God's gift to Lindsay's Balliol, with which Magdalen was teamed for scholarship purposes. 1967 M. Chandler Ceramics in Mod. World v. 157 In practice two or three refractories may have to be teamed up to do one exacting job. 1978 J. R. L. Anderson Sprig of Sea Lavender vi. 94 He seems to have teamed up with Trudi... He was a little in love with Sandra once. |
c. trans. To use or wear in conjunction
with. Also
intr. for pass.| 1948 M. Laski in New Statesman 13 Nov. 417/1 Team, vb.: to wear one thing with another; e.g., team your palest grey dress with the subtle flattery of a brief scarlet bolero. 1954 C. L. B. Hubbard Compl. Dog Breeders' Man. xx. 203 Well-pressed linen slacks..can look really nice, especially if teamed up with a contrasting blouse, shirt or jumper. 1958 House & Garden Feb. 22 (Advt.), [The furniture] will team happily with the pieces you wish to retain. 1960 Housewife May 104/2 This sweater teams happily with pants or shorts. 1977 Jersey Even. Post 26 July 10/1 A long, tiered empire-line voile dress, made of a yellow and red floral patterned material with a white background. This was teamed with a white floppy hat. |
2. a. To convey or transport by means of a team.
b. absol. or intr. To drive a team, to do teamster's work.
N.Amer. Cf. teaming.
| 1841 Emerson Ess. Ser. i. ii. (1876) 66 A sturdy lad.., who teams it, farms it, peddles. 1852 J. Wiggins Embanking 114 A portion was teamed 1½ mile. 1856 Whittier Ranger 126, I..can hear him teaming Down the locust-shaded way. 1888 L. Oliphant Sci. Relig. iii. 60, I..teamed as a common teamster through the rigours of a Canadian winter. 1951 K. M. Wells Owl Pen Reader (1969) iii. 253 He took the road, teamin' hay er cordwood to town. 1968 E. Russenholt Heart of Continent iii. ix. 162 A sudden freeze-up ends the navigation season, catching many vessels in the ice. Freight which cannot, now, be moved by steamboat, must be teamed. |
3. trans. To get (work) done by a team or teams of workmen; to let (work) to a contractor who employs teams of workmen.
U.S.| 1877 [see teaming]. 1891 in Cent. Dict. |
4. Comb. team-up, an instance of teaming up (sense 1 b above).
colloq.| 1945 Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch 21 Nov. 15 (Advt.), Santa's a ‘good Joe’ in their language when he delivers these team-ups [sc. a dressing-gown, pyjamas, and slippers]. 1960 Farmer & Stockbreeder 8 Mar. 74/1 (heading) Poor show but the team-up of American and French manufacturers will be a ‘shot in the arm’. |
Hence
teamed ppl. a., harnessed in a team.
| 1591 Spenser Virgil's Gnat 314 By this the Night forth from the darksome bowre Of Herebus her teemed steedes gan call. |