▪ I. † barm, n.1 Obs. exc. in comb.
Forms: 1–2 bearm, 3 bærm, berm, 4–5 barme, 1– barm.
[Common Teut.; with OE. barm (WSax. bearm) cf. OS., OFris., OHG., Sw., Da. barm, ON. barmr, Goth. barms:—OTeut. *barmo-z, f. ber-an to bear. The early southern ME. berm represented the Saxon bearm; barm was the Anglian form.]
1. A bosom, a lap.
| c 950 Lindisf. Gosp. Luke vi. 38 Hia sellað on barm iuer. c 1000 Ags. Gosp. ibid., Hiᵹ syllað on eowerne bearm. c 1160 Hatton Gosp. John i. 18 On hys fader bearme. 1205 Lay. 30261 He nom his lauerdes hefd..in his bærm he hit læide. c 1230 Ancr. R. 212 Þe slowe lið and slepeð iðe deofles berme, ase his deore deorling. a 1325 Lay le Freine 201 Sche yaf it souke opon hir barm. c 1410 Love Bonavent. Mirr. vi. (Gibbs MS.) Swetly klyppynge and kyssynge leyde hym in hier barme [1510 (Pynson) barme; 1530 (W. de W.) lappe.] c 1460 Towneley Myst. 59 Hald thy hand soyn in thy barme, And as a lepre it shal be lyke. 1513 Douglas æneis xii. Prol. 76 Zephyrus comfortabill inspiratioun For till ressaue law in hyr barm adoun. |
2. Edge, brim, ‘breast,’ ‘brow.’ rare. (So in ON.)
| c 1340 Alexander (Stev.) 4811 Þan come þai blesnand till a barme · of a brent lawe. |
3. Comb. barm-cloth, † barm-hatre (obs.), an apron; barm-fel, barm-skin (dial.), a leather apron. Cf. barvel.
| c 1000 ælfric Gloss. in Wright Voc. (W.) /127 Mappula, bearmclað. c 1300 Men Lif xv. in E.E.P. (1862) 155 Fair beþ ȝur barmhatres. c 1350 Sat. Blacksmiths in Rel. Ant. I. 240 Of a bole hyde ben here barmfellys. c 1386 Chaucer Miller's T. 50 A barm-cloth eek as whit as morne mylk. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 25/1 Barnyskyn [1499 barme skyn], melotes. 1594 Nashe Unfort. Trav. 16 An Elephantes eares that hanges on his shoulders like a countrie huswiues banskin [sic]. 1775 J. Collier Tim Bobbin 20 Hal..had his knockus lapt in his Barm-skin. 1857 Wright Provinc. Dict. s.v., Her smock's as dirty and greasy as a barmskin. 1870 Morris Earthly Par. II. iii. 80 His mother o'er her barm-cloth wide Gazed forward. |
▪ II. barm, n.2
(bɑːm)
Forms: 1 beorma, 3 beorme, berrme, 4–5 berm(e, 5–7 barme, (7 birme), 7– barm.
[OE. beorma; prob. common Teut. (:—*bermon-), though early cognates are wanting; cf. Da. bärme, Sw. barma, Fris. berme, barm, LG. borme, barme, barm, mod.G. bärme.]
1. a. The froth that forms on the top of fermenting malt liquors, which is used to leaven bread, and to cause fermentation in other liquors; yeast, leaven.
| c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Matt. xiii. 33 Heofena rice is ᵹelic beor man. c 1200 Ormin 996 Bræd All þeorrf wiþþutenn berrme. c 1386 Chaucer Can. Yeom. Prol. & T. 260 Alum, glas, berme, wort. c 1420 Liber Cocorum 39 With egges and floure in batere þou make, Put berme þer to. 1601 Holland Pliny II. 145 The froth or barme..[has] a property to keepe the skin faire and cleare in womens faces. 1688 in Phil. Trans. XVIII. 130 His Brains worked like Birme in an Ale-Fat. 1816 Scott Antiq. xi, The sea was working like barm. |
b. transf. or fig. Ferment, fermenting agent.
| c 1580 Montgomerie To R. Hudson, This barme and blaidry buists up all my bees. 1666 G. Harvey Morb. Angl. iv. 48, I assert the gall to be the barm or ferment of the venal blood. 1828 Landor Imag. Conv. (1846) II. 174 Milton's dough..is never the lighter for the barm he kneads up with it. |
† 2. The froth or ‘head’ of beer when poured out.
| c 1275 Sermun in O.E. Misc. 188 Loȝe heo holdet hore galun, mid berme [v.r. beorme] heo hine fulleþ. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 32 Berme of ale or other lyke, spuma. 1483 Cath. Angl. 22/1 Barme, spuma. |
3. attrib., as in barm-fly, barm-froth, barm-man, barm-pot (also fig.); barm-stick fig., a feeble-minded person (E.D.D.); also attrib.
| 1606 Wily Beguiled Prol. in Hazl. Dodsl. IX. 223 That barm-froth poet. 1676 Cotton Angler ii. 335 Another Dun called the Barm-fly from its yeasty colour. 1913 D. H. Lawrence Sons & Lovers iii. 49 She was looking down the alley..for the barm-man. 1924 ― & Skinner Boy in Bush 278 We've heard that barm-stick yarn before. 1925 British Wkly. 5 Mar. 557/1 The man who sold ‘barm’ (brewers' yeast) drove round the district..one saw women hastening over the heath, jug in hand, to catch the ‘barm-man’. 1951 J. B. Priestley Fest. Farbridge i. i. 34 Lady Barth, a rich old barmpot. 1957 Mankowitz & Haggar Encycl. Eng. Pott. & Porc. 16/2 Barm pot, a pot for storing barm or yeast. 1963 T. & P. Morris Pentonville ix. 196 Thus a harmless schizophrenic will be classified by the staff as a ‘barmpot’ and by the prisoners as a ‘nutter’. |
▸ barm cake n. Eng. regional (now chiefly north.) a bread roll.
| 1880M. A. Courtney Gloss. Words W. Cornwall in Gloss. Cornwall 3/1 *Barm-cake is cake made with yeast. 1965 G. Jones Island of Apples iii iii. 200 We were sitting together on my bed, eating condensed milk with a teaspoon and sharing the barm cake Karl had brought in with him in a paper bag. 1986 ‘J. Gash’ Tartan Sell xxi. 148 She fetched tea in mugs and a bowl of barm-cakes with margarine. 2001 Daily Post (Liverpool) (Nexis) 7 Sept. 9 This being Wigan, she has a meat and potato pie in one hand and a chip barmcake in the other. |
▪ III. barm, v. Obs. or arch.
[f. prec. n.]
1. To mix with yeast; to leaven, ferment.
| [c 975 Rushw. Gosp. Matt. xiii. 33 Oþþæt ᵹebeormad wæs all.] 1615 Crooke Body of Man 245 The seed it selfe..is so houen and barmed as it were with spirits. 1616 Surfl. & Markh. Countr. Farm 589 Your best ale must be barmed as soone as it is coold. |
2. To rise in froth or fermentation.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 32/2 Bermyn, or spurgyn as ale, spumo. 1822 Provost ii. 16 It set men's minds a barming and working. |