Now dial. Also 4 ȝerme, 9 yerm, yirm. [OE. *ʓierman, ʓyrman.] intr. To utter a discordant or mournful cry; to scream, yell, howl; to wail.
c. 1000. Lambeth Ps. xxxvii. 9. Ic ʓyrmde for ʓeomrunge heortan minre.
13[?]. S. Cristofer, 119, in Horstm., Altengl. Leg. (1881), 456. Þe fende bygane to crye & ȝarme.
a. 1400[?]. Morte Arth., 3911. Than cho ȝermys and ȝee[s] at Ȝorke in hir chambire.
a. 1400–50. Alexander, 4745. Vmquile he noys as a nowte as a nox quen he lawes, Ȝarmand & ȝerand.
1615. Brathwait, Strappado (1878), 178. In hels abisse: Where they may yaule and yarme til that they burst.
1680. Hickeringill, Curse ye Meroz, 26. A Holder-forth may Yawle and Yarne [sic] … ’till his Lungs … ake.
1808. Jamieson, To yirm, to whine, to complain; also, to ask in a querulous tone; implying the idea of continuation.
a. 1825. Forby, Voc. E. Anglia, Yarm, Yawm, to shriek or yell.
a. 1835. Hogg, Miser’s Warning, xxii. They yermit and flaitte a summer’s day.
