Forms: 3–5 blome(n, (4 Sc. bleume), 5 blomyn, blume, 5–6 blome, bloume, 6 bloome, (7 blowm, 8 Sc. blume), 7– bloom. [ME. blomen, f. BLOOM sb.1]
1. intr. To bear flowers; to be in flower, come into flower; to blossom.
c. 1250. Gen. & Ex., 2061. Orest it blomede, and siðen bar ðe beries ripe.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 10743. Þat his wand suld blome.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVII. lxiv. (1495), 641. In Thessalia feildes that beenes growe in ben eerid whan the beenys bloume.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 40. Blomyn, floreo, floescor.
1523. Fitzherb., Husb., § 24. Hasell … begynneth to blome as soon as the lefe is fallen.
1667. Milton, P. L., III. 355. A Flour which once In Paradise, fast by the Tree of Life Began to bloom.
1727. Bradley, Fam. Dict., s.v. Coriander, This Plant … blooms in July and August.
1821. Shelley, Prometh. Unb., I. 170. Blue thistles bloomed in cities.
2. fig. and transf. To come into full beauty; to be in fresh beauty and vigor; to flourish.
c. 1200. Ormin, 3636. Godess þeowwess blomenn aȝȝ Inn alle gode þæwess.
c. 1425. Festivals Ch., 245, in Leg. Rood, 218. A childe þat choisly chees In maydenes blode to blome.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, XI. xii. 103. Forgane the speris so bustuus blomyt he.
1590. Greene, Fr. Bacon (1830), 42. For fancie bloomes not at the first assault.
1738. Glover, Leonidas, I. 224. With all my honours blooming round my head.
1759. Johnson, Rasselas, xxviii. (1787), 81. The daughter begins to bloom before the mother can be content to fade.
1831. Carlyle, Sart. Res., II. vi. Life bloomed up with happiness and hope.
1875. Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), II. 486. Your beauty is fading away, just as your true self is beginning to bloom.
1878. H. H. Gibbs, Ombre, 2. Quadrille also has faded away, or blooms only in some old-fashioned nooks of England.
3. trans. To bring into bloom; to cause to flourish. Chiefly fig. Obs. or arch.
1592. Greene, Poems, 108. Each fair thing that summer bloomed.
1597. Hooker, Eccl. Pol., V. iii. § 4. Rites & customs … in their first original beginnings when the strength of virtuous, devout, or charitable affection bloomed them.
1611. Bible, Numb. xvii. 8. The rod of Aaron … brought forth buds, and bloomed blossomes.
1667. Milton, P. L., IV. 219. The Tree of Life … blooming Ambrosial Fruit Of vegetable Gold.
1742. Young, Nt. Th., IX. 385. Tenderness divine … That planted Eden, and high bloom’d for man A fairer Eden.
4. intr. To glow with warm color.
1860. Tyndall, Glac., I. § 11. 75. Heaps of snow … as the day advanced, bloomed with a rosy light.
1884. Christm. Graphic, 4/2. A little salon, in which a circular iron stove bloomed red-hot all round.
5. trans. To give a bloom to; to color with a soft warm tint or glow.
a. 1821. Keats, Autumn, 25. While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day.
1844. Tupper, Prov. Philos. (1852), 179. The eye is bright with trust, the cheek bloomed over with affection.
6. techn. To cloud a varnished surface. (See quot., and cf. BLOOMING vbl. sb.1 2.)
1859. Gullick & Timbs, Paint., 214. Whatever varnish may be employed … a current of cold or damp air, which ‘chills’ or ‘blooms’ them [paintings] should be avoided.
