helm
/hɛlm/ noun, verb, proper noun
Forms helms helming helmed helmest helmedst helmeth the Helm
- noun (nautical) The tiller (or, in a large ship, the wheel) which is used to steer the rudder of a marine vessel; also, the entire steering apparatus of a vessel.
- noun (nautical) The use of a helm (sense 1); also, the amount of space through which a helm is turned.
- noun (nautical) The member of a vessel's crew in charge of steering the vessel; a helmsman or helmswoman.
- noun Something used to control or steer; also (obsolete), a handle of a tool or weapon; a haft, a helve.
- noun A position of control or leadership. “the helm of the Commonwealth”
- noun One in the position of controlling or directing; a controller, a director, a guide.
- verb (nautical) To control the helm (noun sense 1) of (a marine vessel); to be in charge of steering (a vessel).
- verb (figuratively) To direct or lead (a project, etc.); to manage (an organization).
- noun (archaic or poetic) A helmet.
- noun (Northern England) A shelter for cattle or other farm animals; a hemmel, a shed.
- noun (Northern England (Cumberland, Westmorland)) A heavy cloud lying on the brow of a mountain, especially one associated with a storm.
- noun (obsolete except UK, dialectal) The crown or top of something.
- noun (obsolete, alchemy, chemistry) The upper part or cap of an alembic or retort.
- verb (transitive, archaic or poetic) To cover (a head) with a helmet; to provide (someone) with a helmet; to helmet.
- noun (countable) A stalk of corn, or (uncountable) stalks of corn collectively (that is, straw), especially when bundled together or laid out straight to be used for thatching roofs.
- noun (uncountable, obsolete) Synonym of bentgrass (“any of numerous reedy grass species of the genus Agrostis”)
- verb (transitive) To lay out (stalks of corn, or straw) straight to be used for thatching roofs; to yelm.
- proper noun The wind that blows westward from the Pennine fells over Cumbria and is often accompanied by a line of clouds on top of the hills called the Helm Bar; it is the only named wind in the British Isles.
- proper noun (countable) A surname.
- proper noun An unincorporated community in Fresno County, California, United States.
Synonyms
Etymology
The noun is derived from Middle English helm, helme (“tiller of a ship”), from Old English helma (“helm, tiller”), from Proto-Germanic *helmô (“handle; helm, tiller”), either from Proto-Indo-European *ḱel- (“to cover”) or from the same source as haulm and helm (“bentgrass, straw”) (see below), Proto-Indo-European *ḱélh₂-m(on)- (“reed, hollow stalk”), one form of which then developed a specialized meaning “handle” in Germanic.
The verb is derived from the noun.
* German Holm (“beam”)
* Old Norse hjálm
From Middle English helm (“helmet; crown of thorns of Jesus; warrior; inn or shop sign”) [and other forms], from Old English helm (“helmet”), from Proto-West Germanic *helm, from Proto-Germanic *helmaz (“protective covering”), probably from Proto-Indo-European *ḱelmos, from the root *ḱel- (“to cover”). Doublet of heaume and related to helmet.
* Gothic 𐌷𐌹𐌻𐌼𐍃 (hilms)
* Old Frisian helm (West Frisian helm)
* Old High German helm (Middle High German helm, modern German Helm; Italian elmo; Old French helme, modern French heaume; Spanish yelmo)
* Old Norse hjalmr (Danish hjelm, Norwegian hjelm, Swedish hjälm)
* Old Saxon helm (Low German Helm, Middle Dutch helm, modern Dutch helm)
From Middle English helmen, helmi (“to provide with a helmet; (figuratively) to cover; to protect”), from Old English helmian (“to cover”), ġehelmian (“to cover with a helmet; to crown”), from (ġe- (prefix with an intensifying effect, or forming nouns or verbs denoting processes or results) +) helm (“helmet”) (see further at etymology 2) + -ian (suffix forming verbs from adjectives and nouns).
* a variant of haulm; or
* from its etymon Middle English halm, helm, Early Middle English healm (“straw, stubble; stalk (?); handle of a tool or weapon”) [and other forms], from Old English healm (“stalk of a grass or plant; hay, straw, stubble”) or an unattested variant *helm, from Proto-Germanic *helmaz (see Proto-West Germanic *helm) or *halmaz (“stalk of a grass or plant; hay, straw”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱelh₂- (“to prick, stab, stick”).
The verb is either derived from the noun, or is possibly a variant of yelm.
Dutch helm (“haulm”); helm, hellem, hellim (“straw”) (dialectal)
Low German helm (“haulm”) (hallem (Heligoland), halm (Holstein))
Webster’s 1913
- noun See Haulm, straw.
- noun The apparatus by which a ship is steered, comprising rudder, tiller, wheel, etc.; --commonly used of the tiller or wheel alone.
- noun The place or office of direction or administration. "The helm of the Commonwealth." Melmoth.
- verb To steer; to guide; to direct. [R.]
Etymology [OE. helme, AS. helma rudder; akin to D. & G. helm, Icel. hjalm, and perh. to E. helve.]
Etymology [AS. See Helmet.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “helm”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details