Forms: 1 ʓelóma, 3 leome, 3–7 lome, 5–7 loome, 6 Sc. lwme, (lowme, lumme, Sc. lwime), 6–7 lomb(e, 6, 9 Sc. lume, 9 Sc. leem, dial. leumm, 7– loom. [ME. lome, aphetic repr. OE. ʓelóma wk. masc., utensil, implement, f. ʓe- (Y- prefix) + lóma as in andlóman (often andluman, andlaman) pl., apparatus, furniture.
The ulterior etymology is obscure: some have suggested connection with OE. ʓelóme (= OHG. kilômo) often (see YLOME); on this hypothesis the primary sense would be ‘things in frequent use.’ The simple *lóma is cited in some dicts. as occurring in the Leiden glosses and the Corpus Glossary; but the Latin lemmata seem to show that the entries belong to different words.]
1. An implement or tool of any kind. Obs. exc. Sc. and north. dial.
c. 900. trans. Bæda’s Hist., IV. xxviii. (Schipper), 521. Þa bead se Godes mon þæt him mon issern geloman [ferramenta] mid hwæte þider brohte þæt land mid to teʓenne.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 124. I blesced beo þi muð … vor þu makest me leome þerof to timbren, & to echen me mine crune.
13[?]. Gaw. & Gr. Knt., 2309. He lyftes lyȝtly his lome, & let hit doun fayre, Wiþ þe barbe of þe bitte bi þe bare nek.
a. 1310. in Wright, Lyric P., xii. 41. So hit wes bistad, That nomon hem ne bad, huere lomes to fonde.
c. 1375. Sc. Leg. Saints, xvi. (Magdalena), 518. Þai had na lomys to wil, for to make a gannand grawe.
1393. Langl., P. Pl., C. VI. 45. The lomes þat ich laboure with and lyflode deserue Ys pater-noster and my prymer.
a. 1400. Sir Perc., 2032. Fulle evylle myght any mene smale,… With siche a lome fighte.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 312/1. Loome, or instrument (S. loombe), utensile.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, VI. iii. 53. Enee … With lume in hand fast wirkand like the laif.
1584. Hudson, Du Bartas’ Judith, I. (1608), 15. The Craftsman now his lumes away hath laide.
1641. Best, Farm. Bks. (Surtees), 49. An outligger carryeth but onely one loome to the field, and that is a rake.
1819. W. Tennant, Papistry Storm’d (1827), 51. Your hands are toom O’ chappin-stick and weirlike loom, To batter at the bawd o’ Rome.
1864. Latto, Tam. Bodkin, iv. 31. ‘They wad get the contents o’ that lume i’ their wames, though!’ said Willie, pu’in’ oot a muckle horse pistol.
† b. The penis. Obs.
a. 1400–50. Alexander, 4750. And large was his odd lome þe lenthe of a ȝerde.
1508. Dunbar, Tua Mariit Wemen, 175. His lwme is vaxit larbar.
1568. Satir. Poems Reform., xlvii. 94.
| Hir eyndling toyis I trow thair be no denger | |
| Becauss his lome is larbour groun and lidder. |
† c. = HEIRLOOM. Obs.
1424. E. E. Wills (1882), 56. I wull he haue my grete maser … for þe terme of his life, and so from heir to heyr lome.
a. 1814. Sailors’ Ret., II. iii. in New Brit. Theatre, II. 340. With all the appurtenances, messuages, tenements, hereditaments, looms heir, rights of court, leet, and baron … thereto appertaining and belonging.
d. dial. Applied to persons, with adjs. of contemptuous meaning. (Cf. tool.)
a. 1650. Sir Aldingar, 47, in Furnivall, Percy Folio, I. 168. ‘Goe with me,’ saide our comly king, ‘This lazar for to see.’… ‘there is a lodly lome,’ says Harry King, ‘for our dame Queene Elinor!’
1878. Cumbrld. Gloss., Leumm, loom; a tool; a term of reproach. ‘He’s an ill leumm.’
2. An open vessel of any kind, as a bucket, tub, vat, etc. Obs. exc. Sc.
a. 1300. E. E. Psalter xxxii. 7. Samenand als in lome watres of se.
13[?]. Childh. Jesus, 659, in Archiv Stud. neu. Spr., LXXIV. 336. Thies clathis sente he … ffor to litte thayme … Doo thayme in ȝone lomys three.
c. 1420. Pallad. on Husb., XI. 447. In lomys smaller hent this must, and vse hit as wyn pestilent.
1509. Market Harboro’ Rec. (1890), 233. Item a growt lome and a lome for grenys vjd.
1577. Burgh Rec. Glasgow (1832), 20. Þe third falt breking of þair lwmes, delyng of the brewing [etc.].
1586. MS. Inv., Hatfield Woodhouse, Yorks, It. kyts, stands, lombes, boules, dyshes, chyrne, flackets.
1630. in Descr. Thames (1758), 66. No Fisherman … shall use … any Weel called a Lomb, or a Mill-Pot, or any other Engine.
1816. Scott, Antiq., xxiii. ‘Ay, and there’s something to pit it in,’ said the mendicant, eyeing the ram’s horn—‘that loom’s an auld acquaintance o’ mine.’
1858. Ramsay, Remin., Ser. I. (1860), 154. Having referred to the accident [of falling from his gig], Balnamoon quietly added, ‘Indeed, I maun hae a lume that’ll had in.’
† b. Vessel, boat. Obs. rare.
13[?]. E. E. Allit. P., B. 314. And þus of lenþe & of large þat lome [sc. the Ark] þou make. Ibid., 443.
3. A machine in which yarn or thread is woven into fabric by the crossing of threads called respectively the warp and weft. (In quots. 1535, 1566 app. used for: The beam of a loom.)
Often with prefixed word indicating (a) the kind of material produced, as † linen, ribbon, † woollen, etc., loom; (b) the method of operation, as hand, power loom; (c) some particular form of construction, as circular, draw loom; (d) the inventor or improver, as Jacquard loom: for which see those words.
1404. Nottingham Rec., 27 Aug. II. 22. Item, j lynyn lome, et j. warpyngstok et warpyngtree, et j. wheel, appretiata ad ijs. iiijd.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 312/1. Loome of webbarys crafte (K. P. of webstare), telarium.
1444. Rolls of Parlt., V. 106/1. To serche all maner Worstedes, or to do serche, as well within the Lomes as oute of the Lomes.
1535. Coverdale, 1 Sam. xvii. 7. The shaft of his speare was like a weauers lome.
1566. Eng. Ch. Furniture (1866), 107. Johnne Craile who haith made a weavers lomb therof.
1632. Massinger & Field, Fatal Dowry, IV. i. His vestaments sit as if … art had wrought ’em on the same loome as nature fram’d his Lordship.
1675. C. Hatton, in H. Corr. (1878), 120. Those weavers who had loomes without engines broke open ye houses of all those weavers who had loomes wth engines.
1717. Lady M. W. Montagu, Lett. to Mr. Pope, 1 April. These wenches … pass the time at their looms under the shade of the trees.
1840. Thirlwall, Greece, VII. lv. 89. The looms of Ionia were kept in constant activity to supply purple robes for the Courtiers.
1843. Macaulay, Lays Anc. Rom., Horatius, lxx. And the goodwife’s shuttle merrily Goes flashing through the loom.
1867. Smiles, Huguenots Eng., vi. (1880), 96. The artizans set up their looms, and began to work at the manufacture of … cloth.
fig. 1603. Dekker, Wonderfull Yeare, A iv. Whatsoeuer they weaue in the motley-loome of their rustie pates.
1635–56. Cowley, Davideis, II. 97. All like a comely Youth in Lifes’ fresh Bloom; Rare Workmanship, and wrought by heav’nly Loom.
1645. Z. Boyd, Holy Songs, in Zion’s Flowers (1855), App. 13/1. Sorrows are as threeds a crosse; in this our earthly loome.
1761. Gray, Fatal Sisters, ii. Glitt’ring lances are the loom, Where the dusky warp we strain, Weaving many a soldier’s doom.
1787. Minor, 54. The best wrought piece that ever issued from his intellectual loom.
1864. Longf., Hawthorne, 7. The great elms o’erhead Dark shadows wove on their aërial looms.
† b. transf. Attributed to a spider or caterpillar; occas. used poet. for the web itself. Obs.
1590. Greene, Orl. Fur. (1599), 58. Finest silke, Fetcht from the natiue loomes of labouring wormes.
1592. Nashe, P. Penilesse (ed. 2), 8 b. Spiders … that wont to set vp their loomes in euery windowe.
1606. Dekker, Sev. Sinnes, I. (Arb.), 15. O thou that on thy pillow (lyke a Spider in his loome) weauest mischeuous nets.
1647. H. More, Poems, 152. Like spider in her web, so do we sit Within this spirit, and if ought do shake This subtile loom we feel as it doth hit.
4. Put for: The art, business or process of weaving.
1676. Worlidge, Cyder (1691), 236. The dressing and preparing of hemp and flax from the stalk to the loom.
1697. Dryden, Æneid, VII. 1096. Unbred to Spinning, in the Loom unskill’d.
1784. Cowper, Task, I. 416. Who … Renounce the odours of the open field For the unscented fictions of the loom.
1829. Scott, Anne of G., iii. Clothes … of much fines cloth, the manufacture of the German loom.
1846. McCulloch, Brit. Empire (1854), II. 1. The intervention of merchants and dealers gives a continuous motion to the plough and the loom.
1859. Tennyson, Enid, 693. And one among his gentlewomen Display’d a splendid silk of foreign loom.
5. The shaft, i.e., the part between the blade and the handle of an oar; also, limited to the part of the oar between the row-lock and the hands in rowing; also, loosely, the handle.
1697. Dampier, Voy. (1729), I. 54. Of the young Trees Privateers use to make Loom, or Handles for their Oars.
1769. Falconer, Dict. Marine (1780), D d iv. That part of the oar … which is within-board, is termed the loom.
1829. Marryat, F. Mildmay, ii. The oar meeting no resistance, its loom or handle came back upon the bosom of … Sally.
1857. P. Colquhoun, Comp. Oarsman’s Guide, 30. The oar or scull [consists] of handle, loom, shank, and blade.
1883. Clark Russell, Sailors’ Lang., Loom,… the part of an oar that is in a boat when the rest of it is out.
1893. F. M. Crawford, Childr. King, i. 5. Out go the sweeps,… and the men throw themselves forward over the long slender loom, as they stand.
6. attrib. and Comb.: a. simple attrib., as loom-beam, -pattern, -post, -spoke, -treadle, weight; b. instrumental, as loom-made, -wrought adjs.; c. objective, as loom-maker, -worker; d. locative, as loom-bred adj.; e. special comb., as † loom-flitter, a weaver; loom-house, a building or factory in which weaving is carried on; loom-lace, lace made in a loom; loom-lord nonce-wd., the proprietor of weaving machinery; loom-picture, a picture woven in textile fabric; loom-shed, -shop, -stance, -stead = loom-house; † loom-work, weaving.
1606. Sylvester, Du Bartas, II. iv. I. David, 88. His Lance a *Loom-beam, or a Mast (as big) Which yet he shaketh as an Osier twig.
1812. W. Tennant, Anster Fair, II. xxviii. 36. Dunfermline, too … Sends out her *loom-bred men.
a. 1653. G. Daniel, Idyll, iv. 86. Children … can name Oligarchy, wth more Ease Then a *Loome-fitter, can Church Hierarchies.
1864. B. Brierley, Layrock of Langley-side, ix. 121. We’st be as quiet as a empty *loomheawse.
1689. Lond. Gaz., No. 2493/4. A Wastcoat lac’d with broad Silver knotted *Loom-lace.
1870. Emerson, Soc. & Solit., vi. 123. There has been a nightmare bred in England of indigestion and spleen among landlords and *loomlords.
1890. Daily News, 13 Nov., 5/5. Finest *loom-made Spanish lace.
1851. in Illustr. Lond. News, 5 Aug. (1854), 119. Occupations of the People, *loom-maker.
1835. Ure, Philos. Manuf., 259. *Loom-pattern drawing.
1870. J. K. Hunter, Life Studies of Char., xxii. 155. He had a wee box on the tap o’ his loom…, and he had a slate that hung on his *loompost.
1835. Ure, Philos. Manuf., 351. A *loom-shed. Ibid., 263. The master of a *loom-shop.
c. 1817. Hogg, Tales & Sk., V. 178. The destructive weaver seized a *loomspoke, and began a-beating me.
1876. S[arah] R. Whitehead, Daft Davie, 6. The shop, containing generally several looms—a *loom-stance being often sublet by the householder—was on the other side.
1869. I. Burns, Life W. C. Burns, iv. (1870), 101. The weaving *loomsteads.
1831. Carlyle, Sart. Res. (1858), 145. Religion … weaving for herself new Vestures;—Teufelsdröckh himself being one of the *loom-treadles?
1881. Archæologia, XLVI. 468. The *loom weights of chalk … were used to weigh down the warp in the process of weaving.
1598. W. Phillips, Linschoten (1864), 179. These clothes … being verie costly wrought with *Loome-worke.
a. 1640. Day, Peregr. Schol. (1881), 68. She taught Arachne her curiouse lomeworke.
1659. Torriano, Telaruólo, a weaver or *loom-worker of any kind of cloth.
1870. Morris, Earthly Par., III. IV. 199. Its woven waters seemed to fall, Its trees, its beasts, its *loom-wrought folk, Now seemed indeed as though they woke.
