| 释义 |
▪ I. coom, n.1|kuːm|
Forms: 6–7 coame, 7 coome, come, koom, comb, 8 coomb, 7– coom.
[In senses 1–2 app. another form of culm, pointing to a ME. colm, whence also ME. colmy adj. sooty, grimy, bicolmen vb. = bicollen to begrime with soot. In Sc. and north Eng., ul may become ū, as in bulk, Sc. bouk (buːk), Bulmer in Northumberland, locally Boomer; cf. also shoulder, coulter, Sc. shooder, cooter. But the form coame in 1 may correspond to ON. kám ‘grime, film of dirt’; and sense 3 may be related to Ger. kahm, mould, ‘the white film on fermented liquids’; cf. keem. (For coom from WGer. kâma-, OTeut. kæ̂mo-z, cf. broom, moon.) The relationship of sense 4 is quite uncertain. Thus there are here possibly two or even three words.]
1. Soot, esp. that which forms about a fireplace, or settles as smuts from a smoky atmosphere. smithy coom: the hard granular soot that forms over a blacksmith's fire. (But see also 2.) Now Sc. or north Eng.
1587L. Mascall Govt. Cattle, Horses (1627) 126 The coame aboue the Smithes forge. 1610Markham Masterp. ii. xxxvi. 273 The coame about the Smithes forge. 1691Ray N.C. Words 137 Smidy, a Smiths Shop, whence Smidy-koom. Var. Dial. 1696Phillips, Coome, the Soot that gathereth over an Ovens Mouth. 1825–79Jamieson s.v., If coom hang from the bars of a grate like shreds of silk, it is viewed by the superstitious as foretokening the arrival of strangers.
b. fig.
1823Galt Entail III. xxvii. 251 ‘How ye'll clear your character o' the coom ye hae brought on't.’ 1826J. Wilson Noct. Ambr. Wks. 1855 I. 152 The thin black coom o' annihilation and oblivion.
2. Coal dust or refuse, small coal, slack: cf. culm.
1611Vestry Bks. (Surtees) 161 Paide for beringe sand and smethie come to the same lyme, xijd. 1652Boate Nat. Hist. Irel. xx. §4. 158 Upon this they lay a lay of..a certain sort of Sea-coal, the which, being wonderful small, and peculiarly called Comb, is hardly used for any other purpose [than burning lime]. 1755–73Johnson, Coom..is used in Scotland for the useless dust which falls from large coals. 1825–79Jamieson, Coom..small coal, Sc.; Culm Eng. 1879Dickinson Cumbld. Gloss. Supp., Coom, the debris of coal; culm.
†3. (See quot.) Obs.
1609C. Butler Fem. Mon. vi. (1623) O ij, This kinde of honey..after a while it corrupteth and..becometh the sowrest, and the most unsauory of all things..which, then they commonly call Stopping or Coome.
†4. The black stuff, composed of grease and dust, which works out from axles or bearings. Obs.
In quot. 1758 coom perhaps means grease for the wheels.
1724Lond. Gaz. No. 6264/2 By marking of Sheep with large Quantities of Pitch, Tar, or Coomb. 1730–6Bailey (folio), Coom..that matter that works out of the wheels of carriages. 1749W. Ellis Shepherd's Guide 298 To do this, it's only rubbing the Coomb of a Cart-wheel over the Breast of the Ram, or if Coomb cannot conveniently be had, you may rub his breast over with Redding, and the Colour of it..will be left behind on the Ewe. 1750― Country Housew. 287 To cure Shingles, take the black Coom that is made by oiling or greasing Bells in a Steeple and anoint with it. 1758Ann. Reg. 107 A remarkable carriage set out..without coomb, or any oily, unctuous, or other liquid matter whatever to the wheels or axles. 1786Sparrman Voy. Cape G.H. I. 117 A box for the coom.
5. Dust from a corn mill, saw-dust, etc. dial.
1811Willan W. Riding Yorksh. Gloss., Coom, dust and scrapings of wood, produced in sawing. 1887Jamieson Suppl., Coom, dust from a mill, or from riddled seeds, i.e. from corn. Orkn.
▪ II. coom, n.2 Sc.
Also 8 cumb.
[Of uncertain origin: the general sense appears to be that of an arched or rounded top, dome. Connexion has been suggested with med.L. cumba hold or bottom of a ship or boat, ‘locus imus navis’ (Isidore Orig. xix. ii. §1), and with Sp. combo, Pr. comb, bent, curved: cf. coomb2.]
1. The wooden centre or centering on which an arch is built.
1753Scots Mag. Aug. 422/1 A new-finished arch, from which the cumb or timber frame had been taken away. 1796in Sinclair Stat. Acc. Scot. XVII. 8 (Jam.) As several of the arches approach nearly to a straight line, the frame, or coom, on which it was raised, must have sunk while it was building. 1805Forsyth Beauties Scot. I. 355 The coomb of the most westerly arch appears to have sunk before the arch was thrown over. 1808–25in Jamieson.
2. ‘The lid of a coffin, from its being arched’ (Jam.).
In quot. 1537, it seems to be used for the coffin as a whole.
1537Ld. Treasurer's Acc. in Pitcairn Crim. Trials Scot. I. 288 Tua pund sex unce blak sewin silk to be Frenȝeis to the Quenis Covme. 1864Chambers Bk. Days (1869) I. 824 Some surgeon apprentices rudely stopped the cart..and broke down part of the cooms, or sloping roof of the coffin.
3. Here may belong coom or coomb applied locally to dome-like hills in the North.
Examples are White Coom or Polmoody Coom, a hill 2695 ft. high near Loch Skene, above Moffat, the Coom or Coomb at Teviothead, Coom Cairn, Coom Dod, Comb Law, Comb Hill, all in the south of Scotland; also Comb Fell, south of Cheviot, and Combhill in Northumberland, Black Combe, White Combe, Green Comb, Hen Comb in Cumberland, etc. [In some of these the word may be comb n.1 in sense 6 c, d, ‘crest, ridge’, but the local form of this is kame, kaim, which is actually in use. Attempts have been made to identify the word with coomb2, esp. in sense 1 c, but on no valid grounds.]
1669Worlidge Syst. Agric. (1681) 323 A Comb, in some places it is said to be..a Hill or Plain between Valleys. 1887Brighouse News 26 Mar., Coom..in Yorkshire..is applied not to a valley or depression of any kind, but to a conical sandy hill, or large hillock, rising out of the level plain..such is Terrington Coom, north-east of York.
4. Comb. coom-ceiled a., covered with an arched or vaulted ceiling of plaster: said of a room, in whole or part directly under the roof, as a garret, attic, etc.; cf. camp-ceiling. Hence ˈcoom-ceil v.
1795in Sc. Leader (1887) 16 Aug. 8 For upwards of ten years..it had nothing but the bare rafters above, but in 1795, it was agreed to have it ‘coomceiled..not for ornament, but for the health of the hearers of the gospel’. 1825in Jamieson. 1858Mrs. Oliphant Laird of Norlaw I. 309 It was a little room..what is called in these regions ‘coomcieled’, which is to say, the roof sloped on one side, being close under the leads. 1879Shairp Burns 102 A garret, coom⁓ceiled, for the female servants. 1880J. F. S. Gordon Chron. Keith 422 The last Duchess of Gordon renewed and coomceiled the primitive tabernacle.
▪ III. coom, n.3
A dialectal pronunciation or variant form of comb n.1 in various senses.
▪ IV. coom, v.1 rare.
Also 7 cowm.
[f. coom n.1 Cf. becoom, ME. bicolmen (s.v. be- 6 a).]
1. trans. To begrime or smut as with soot.
1606W. Birnie Kirk-Burial (1833) 35 The colȝear, by cowming the walkers whyte webs, did weary him away. 1823Galt Entail III. iii. 40 ‘I'll no coom my fingers wi' meddling in ony sic project.’
†2. (See quot.) Obs.
1664Evelyn Sylva 103 Small-coals are made of the spray and brush-wood..which is sometimes bound up into Bavins for this use; though also it be as frequently charked without binding, and then they call it cooming it together.
▪ V. coom
var. of coomb2, valley; obs. form of come n.2, radicle of barley; obs. pa. tense of come v. |