[the vb. used subst.]
† 1. Estimation of probability; conjecture, guess.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, XV. 7088. Ector, be ame of his speche, Knew hym for his cousyn.
c. 1420. Siege of Rouen, in Archæol., XXI. 62. Theroff had oure Kynge an awme.
1565. Jewel, Repl. Harding (1611), 59. Wee lead not the people by aimes and ghesses.
1601. Shaks., Jul. C., I. ii. 163. What you would worke me too, I haue some ayme.
1625. Bacon, Essays, xvii. 347. The taking an Aime at diuine Matters by Human.
† 2. The action of making one’s way towards a point; course, direction. Obs.
1549. Olde, trans. Erasm. Paraphr. 1 Tim. i. 19. Lest he shuld chaunce to goe quyte out of his ame altogether.
1679. Coles, I am quite out of my aim, Non ubi terrarum sim scio.
3. The act of aiming, or pointing the course of anything; the direction or pointing of a missile at that which it is intended to strike. esp. in phr. To take (make obs.) aim.
c. 1430. Syr Generides, 5959. To cleue his heid the king made ame.
1590. Shaks., Mids. N., II. i. 157. A certaine aime he tooke At a faire Vestall.
1667. Milton, P. L., II. 712. Each at the head Level’d his deadly aime.
1818. Scott, Hrt. Midl., 40. The rearmost soldiers turned, and again fired with fatal aim and execution.
1868. Q. Victoria, Life in Highl., 72. Macdonald whispered that he saw stags, and that Albert should wait and take a steady aim.
† b. To give aim: To guide one in his aim, by informing him of the result of a preceding shot. Obs.
1545. Ascham, Toxoph., 161. Yet, there is one thing whiche many archers vse, yat shall cause a man haue lesse nede to marke the wether, and that is Ame gyuing. Ibid. Gyuing Ame … hindreth the knowlege of shotyng, and maketh men more negligente.
1653. Middleton & Rowley, Sp. Gypsey, II. (N.). I myself give aim thus: wide, four bows; short, three and a half.
† c. To cry aim: ‘To encourage the archers by crying out “Aim!” when they were about to shoot.’ Nares. Hence, To encourage, applaud, abet. Obs.
1589. R. Harvey, Pl. Perc., 21. Shake handes & be friendes, meet halfe way, and I standing iump in the middle will crie aime to you both.
1595. Shaks., John, II. i. 196. It ill beseemes this presence to cry ayme to these ill-tuned repetitions.
1625. [Beaum. & Fl.], Maid of Inn, V. iii. Must I cry aim To this unheard of insolence?
† 4. Direction or guidance given. Obs.
a. 1625. Fletcher, Hum. Lieut. (1st fol.), 127. We know without your aime, good woman.
1627. Speed, Eng. etc. Abridged, xxxiv. § 8. [Houses of religion broken up] vnder the ayme of King Henry the eight.
1643. Milton, Sov. Salve, 39. Posts of direction for Travellers … to give you ayme.
1705. Stanhope, Paraphr., III. 54. A Passage which seems to give us some Aim for judging.
5. fig. The act of directing the efforts towards an object; design, intention, purpose.
1632. Sanderson, 12 Serm., 553. We cannot attain to the full of our first aymes.
1667. Milton, P. L., I. 41. With ambitions aim Against the Throne and Monarchy of God.
1738. Wesley, Ps. xxxii. 2. Free from Design, or selfish Aim.
1870. Bryant, Homer, I. I. 4. ’Twere well, Since now our aim is baffled, to return.
† 6. A thing aimed at; a mark, or butt. Obs. in lit. sense.
c. 1325. E. E. Allit. Poems, C. 128. Schomely to schort he schote of his ame.
1594. Shaks., Rich. III., IV. iv. 90. A garish Flagge To be the ayme of euery dangerous Shot.
1598. Florio, Segno … a white or ayme or blanke to shoote at.
1632. Sanderson, 12 Serm., 50. But because my ayme lyeth another way; I can but poynt at them, and passe.
7. fig. A thing intended or desired to be effected; an object, purpose.
1625. Burges, Pers. Tithes, 3. My chiefe ayme in this discourse is … to pull sundry honest Christians out of a damnable sinne.
1651. Hobbes, Leviathan, II. xxviii. 162. The aym of Punishment is not a revenge, but terrour.
1734. Pope, Ess. on Man, iv. 1. O Happiness! our being’s end and aim!
1860. Tyndall, Glac., I. § 2. 9. Our first aim was to cross the Wengern Alp.
1876. Green, Short Hist. of Eng. People, Pref. 5. The aim of the following work is defined by its title.
8. colloq. The person who aims. Cf. A good shot.
1881. Miss Laffan, Weeds, in Macm. Mag., XLIV. 392. He was a good aim too.
9. Comb. and Attrib. as aim-certain a., sure of one’s aim; aim-frontlet, a frontlet or front-piece to assist in taking aim. Also AIM-CRIER.
1878. Masque of Poets, 11. Plunge aim-certain in the living stream.
1849. Mem. Kirkaldy of Grange, xxviii. 335. All the cannon of those days were levelled, raised or depressed by means of a wedge called the aim-frontlet, hollowed to receive the muzzle under which it was placed.
