▪ I. † hame1 Obs.
Forms: 1 ham, (in comb.) -hama, -homa (5 haum), 4–6 hame.
[OE. -hama = OS., OHG. -hamo in comb. ‘covering, garment’, MHG. -hame, -ham; also ON. hams, (Da. ham) snake's slough, cf. hames in quot. 13...]
A covering, esp. a natural covering, integument; skin, membrane, slough (of a serpent).
| Beowulf (Z.) 1570 Bil eal ðurh-wod fægne flæsc-homan. c 1000 Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 276/23 Camisa, ham. 13.. K. Alis. (Laud MS. 385) Neptenabus..takeþ hym hames of dragon. Ibid. 391 Offe he cast his dragons hame. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 224/2 Hame, thyn skynne of an eye, or oþer lyke, membranula. c 1440 J. Capgrave Life St. Kath. iii. 1132 All þis ilk tyme þer was a hame Of blyndenes be-for þis ermytes yȝe. 1544 T. Phaer Regim. Lyfe (1553) C vj a, An Adders hame sodden in wine. 1546 ― Bk. Childr. x. 5 The hame or skynne of an adder or a snake, that she casteth. |
▪ II. hame2
(heɪm)
Also 6 haame, haume, 8 dial. hawm, 9 heam, dial. haam, Sc. haim.
[Not known before 1300. Corresponds to MDu. hame, haem, MHG. dial. hame, Du. haam, LG. Westph. ham: perh. from an OTeut. root *ham- to hold against, hinder.]
a. Each of two curved pieces of wood or metal placed over, fastened to, or forming, the collar of a draught horse.
| 1303 R. Brunne Handl. Synne 11496 Ȝyt wyl þey neuer shryue here shame, So are þey bounde yn þe fendes hame. 13.. [see hambargh]. 1483 Cath. Angl. 172/2 A Hame of a horse. 1501 Douglas Pal. Hon. i. 425 Euyr hamis conuenient for sic note, And raw silk brechamis ouir thair halsis hingis. 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. i. (1586) 11 b, Collers, Bridle reynes, Headstalles..Haames. 1611 Cotgr., Attelles, the haumes of a draught horses collar; the two flat sticks that incompasse it. 1616 Surfl. & Markh. Country Farme 538 Horses with open collars, and large hames. 1794 W. Felton Carriages (1801) II. 146 The Heams are the two irons made to fix round the neck collar. 1883 J. P. Groves From Cadet to Captain xxii. 223 Harnessing..Nellie's ponies..he managed to get the hames upside down, with the kidney-links on the top of the collars. |
b. attrib. and Comb., as hame-loop, hame-maker, hame-rein, hame-strap, hame-terret, hame-tug.
| 1794 W. Felton Carriages (1801) II. 139 The Heam-Tugs..are riveted to the heam-loops. 1826 Sporting Mag. XVIII. 393 A pole-chain may be unhooked, or a hame strap get loose. 1902 Daily Chron. 9 July 3/6 Why a tight hame rein should be used on so many builders' and other carts is..a puzzle. 1908 N. & Q. 10th Ser. X. 106 At the foot of a hill leading from Blackrock, near Brighton, to Rottingdean is a board with the inscription: ‘Please slacken hame-rein on going uphill.’ |
▪ III. hame
obs. and Sc. f. home; obs. f. ham, haulm; var. hem Obs., them.