brim
/bɹɪm/ noun, verb, adjective, proper noun
Forms brims brimming brimmed brimmest brimmedst brimmeth
- noun Originally, a border or edge of a sea, a river, or other body of water; now, any border or edge.
- noun The topmost lip or rim of a container, or a natural feature shaped like a container. “The toy box was filled to the brim with stuffed animals.”
- noun A projecting rim.
- noun (especially) That of a hat. “He turned the back of his brim up stylishly.”
- noun (archaic or poetic) The upper edge or surface of water.
- noun The surface of the ground.
- noun (figurative) A brink or edge.
- verb To fill (a container) to the brim (noun etymology 1, noun sense 1.1), top, or upper edge.
- verb (figurative) To fill (something) fully.
- verb (intransitive, also figurative) To be full until almost overflowing. “The room brimmed with people.”
- noun (obsolete) The sea; ocean; water; flood.
- noun (Australia, US) Synonym of bream (“a freshwater fish from one of a number of genera”); specifically (US), the redbreast sunfish (Lepomis auritus).
- verb (transitive) Of a boar (“male pig”): to mate with (a sow (“female pig”)); to rut.
- verb (intransitive) Of a sow: to be in heat; to rut; also, to mate with a boar.
- noun (archaic) The period when a sow (“female pig”) is ready to mate; a heat, an oestrus, a rut; also, an act of a boar (“male pig”) and sow mating.
- adjective (obsolete except Northern England, Scotland or poetic) Synonym of breme (“of the sea, wind, etc.: fierce; raging; stormy, tempestuous”).
- noun (UK, slang, obsolete except dialectal) An irascible, violent woman.
- proper noun A surname.
- proper noun A locality in the Shire of Yarriambiack, north western Victoria, Australia.
Synonyms
bill hatbrim teem bulge bream breme battle axe bitch brimstone cat cockatrice crow dragon faggot fishwife harpy harridan hellcat jade nag rim lip
Etymology
The noun is derived from Middle English brymme, brimme (“bank or edge of a lake or river; shore of a sea; brink; rim”); of unclear origin; compare Middle High German brem (“margin”).
The verb is derived from the noun.
* Bavarian Bräm (“border, stripe”)
* Danish bræmme (“border, edge, brim”)
* obsolete German Bräme, Brame (“border, edge”)
* Swedish bräm (“border, edge”)
* Icelandic barmur (“edge, verge, brink”)
Inherited from Northern Middle English brym, bryme (“waterbody”), from Old English brim (“sea, surf”), from Proto-Germanic *brimą (“turbulence, surge; surf, sea”), from Proto-Germanic *bremaną (“to roar”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰrem- (“to hum, make a noise”).
A variant of bream.
The verb is derived from Middle English brimmen (“of pigs: to be in heat or rut; to breed; to bear fruit”), either:
* modified from brem, breme (“of animals: ferocious, savage; of fire, the sea, a storm, etc.: raging, severe, tempestuous; glorious, splendid; etc.”, adjective) (whence modern English breme (“(obsolete) fierce, stormy, tempestuous”)), from Old English brēme (“(poetic) glorious; famous, renowned”), from Proto-West Germanic *brōmi, from Proto-Germanic *brōmiz (“famous”); or
* directly from Old English bremman (“to rage; to roar”) (though not attested in Middle English), from Proto-Germanic *bramjaną, *bremaną (“to roar”);
both from Proto-Indo-European *bʰrem- (“to make noise”).
The noun is derived from Middle English brim, from the verb: see above.
Webster’s 1913
- noun The rim, border, or upper sdge of a cup, dish, or any hollow vessel used for holding anything.
- noun The edge or margin, as of a fountain, or of the water contained in it; the brink; border.
- verb To be full to the brim. "The brimming stream." Milton. To brim over (literally or figuratively), to be so full that some of the contents flows over the brim; as, cup brimming over with wine; a man brimming over with fun.
- verb To fill to the brim, upper edge, or top. Arrange the board and brim the glass. Tennyson.
Etymology [OE. brim, brimme, AS. brymme edge, border; akin to Icel. barmr, Sw. bräm, Dan. bræmme, G. brame, bräme. Possibly the same word as AS. brim surge, sea, and properly meaning, the line of surf at the border of the sea, and akin to L. fremere to roar, murmur. Cf. Breeze a fly.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “brim”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details