thyme, n.
(taɪm)
Forms: α. 4–8 tyme, 6–8 time. β. 5– thyme (5–7 thime).
[a. F. thym (13th c. in Godef. Compl.), ad. L. thymum, in late med.L. often timum, -us, a. Gr. θύµον (θύµος), f. θύειν to burn sacrifice.]
1. a. A plant of the genus Thymus, N.O. Labiatæ, comprising shrubby herbs with fragrant aromatic leaves, found chiefly in the Mediterranean region; esp. T. vulgaris (Garden Thyme), a native of Spain and Italy, cultivated as a pot-herb, and T. Serpyllum (Wild Thyme), occurring on dry banks and pastures in Britain and throughout Europe. (See also b.)
| α c 1420 Liber Cocorum (1862) 53 Saveray, mynt and tyme. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 494/1 Tyme, flowre, timus... Tyme, herbe, tima. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 65 Wo be to you pharisees, whiche tytheth myntes, rewe, tyme, & suche other small herbes. 1563 T. Hill Art Garden. (1593) 80 The Garden Time is a plant right profitable. 1590 Shakes. Mids. N. ii. i. 249, I know a banke where the wilde time blowes. 1653 Walton Angler ii. 57 Bruise..a little Time, or some other sweet herb. 1713 Phil. Trans. XXVIII. 193 Lemon Tyme. |
| β 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. lix. (Bodl. MS.) lf. 203 b/2 Epithimum is þe floure of thyme. c 1425 Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 644/6 Nomina Herbarum..Hic caulus, uwle (?) or thyme. 1562 Turner Herbal ii. 155 b, Thyme hath the poure to driue furth fleme. 1637 Milton Lycidas 40 Desert Caves, With wilde Thyme and the Gadding Vine o'regrown. 1657 S. Purchas Pol. Flying-Ins. i. xv. 94 Thyme, which onely yeeldeth Nectar. 1855 Kingsley Heroes, Theseus i. 199 The hills are sweet with thyme and basil. |
b. With qualifying words, denoting various species or varieties: as
creeping thyme,
mother of thyme,
running t. = wild t. (see 1);
garden thyme (see 1);
lemon thyme,
† musk thyme, a cultivated variety of
T. Serpyllum, having a scent like that of lemons (often called
T. citriodorus);
savory thyme,
T. virginicus (see
savory 3). Also applied to plants of other genera, chiefly aromatic labiates, as
basil thyme, cat-
thyme, horse-
thyme; also
water-thyme, a name of
Elodea canadensis (
Anacharis Alsinastrum).
| 1579 Langham Gard. Health (1633) 636 Thyme: Running Thyme prouoketh the termes and vrine. 1597 Gerarde Herbal ii. clxiv. §6. 457 Called..in English wilde Time, Puliall Mountaine,..running Time, creeping Time, Mother of Time. Ibid. clxv. 459 Our English women call it Muske Time. 1676 Beal in Phil. Trans. XI. 587 The Thymes, denominated from Mastic, Lemon, Musk, Yellow and White Thyme. 1713 [see 1 α]. |
2. oil of thyme: a fragrant volatile oil obtained from the common thyme, used as an antiseptic.
| 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp. s.v. Oil, Mr. Geoffroy made a multitude of experiments on the oil of thyme. 1857 [see thymene 1]. 1876 Harley Royle's Mat. Med. 407 An odour resembling oil of thyme. 1876 [see thymol]. |
3. attrib. and
Comb., as
thyme-blossom,
thyme-leaf,
thyme-root;
thyme-capt,
thyme-fed,
thyme-flavoured,
thyme-grown adjs.;
thyme-camphor = thymol;
thyme fish, a name for the grayling, its smell being held to resemble that of thyme (whence the generic name
Thymallus);
thyme-leaved (
-liːvd)
a., having leaves resembling those of thyme (rendering
mod.L.
serpyllifolius in specific names);
thyme-oil, oil of thyme: see 2;
† thyme wart (wert), used by Holland to render L.
thymion,
Gr. θύµιον a kind of wart (
= thymus 2).
| 1821 Clare Vill. Minstr. (1823) I. 119 This *thyme-capt hill beneath one's feet. |
| 1900 Ellis Rom. Rose I. 19/545 Her breath was sweet as breeze *thyme-fed. |
| 1756–7 tr. Keysler's Trav. (1760) I. 62 Very fine trouts, *thyme fish, and others. |
| 1789 Pilkington View Derby. I. viii. 395 Arenaria serpyllifolia, *Thyme-leaved Sandwort. 1859 D. Bunce Trav. Dr. Leichhardt iv. 27 Decaspora disticha and Thymifolia, the first two-leaved, and the latter the thyme-leaved Decaspora. 1972 Y. Lovelock Veg. Bk. III. 336 Small or thyme-leaved mint..is only found in Tasmania. |
| 1868 Watts Dict. Chem. V. 791 On continuing the distillation of the *thyme-oil, there passes over..a mixture of thymene (and cymene) with about 1/3 pt. of thymol. |
| 1601 Holland Pliny xxxii. x. 448 For the *thyme werts particularly, they vse them [Cackerell heads] raw. |
Hence
thyme v., trans. to cover or scent with thyme;
thymed (
taɪmd)
a., covered with thyme.
| 1628 Feltham Resolves ii. [i.] xii. 32 Nor does the sedulous Bee thyme all her thighes from one Flowres single vertues. 1885 St. James' Gaz. 17 Aug. 6/2 Upon its thymed banks. |