Obs. exc. Hist. and dial. Forms: 4–6 lyame, 5 lyeme, ? 5, 7 lym, 6 lyalme, lyemme, 6–7 lyome, lime, 6–9 leam, liam, 7 leame, leon, 7, 9 lyme, 5– lyam. [a. OF. liem (mod.F. lien) = Pr. lian-s, Cat. lligam, Pg. ligame, It. legame:—L. ligāmen, f. ligāre to tie, bind. Cf. LIEN.]
1. A leash for hounds.
c. 1400. Parlt. Thre Ages (text A), 38. My lyame than full lightly lete I doun falle. Ibid., 61. I hyede to my hounde and hent hym vp sone And louset my lyame and let hym vmbycaste.
1481–90. Howard Househ. Bks. (Roxb.), 287. My Lord paied to Mason for lyemes for his howndes … xxd.
1501. Douglas, Pal. Hon., I. 297. Of goldin cord wer lyamis, and the stringis Festinnit coniunct in massie goldin ringis.
1528. MS. List of Jewelry (P. R. O.). ij doggs collers of scoolewerk with lyalmes sylk and gold.
1541. Knaresboro’ Wills (Surtees), I. 81, note. One cople of houndes and ther lyomes.
1570. Caius, De Canibus Brit., 11 b. Nam Lyemme nostra lingua Lorum significat.
c. 1600[?]. Distracted Emp., V. iv. in Bullen, O. Pl., III. 255. Enter Eudon & Busse, leading in twoe lymes Byrtha & a Spaniell.
1611. Cotgr., Traict,… a lime, or line wherein a Bloud-hound is led.
1612. Webster, White Devil, B iij. Let her not go to Church, but like a hounde In Leon at your heeles.
1686. Blome, Gentl. Recr., II. 82. A Hound will draw better when he is held short, than if he were let at the length of the Liam.
1829. Scott, Wav., 2nd App. to Gen. Pref. iv. A large bloodhound tied in a leam or band.
1876. Whitby Gloss., Leam, a leash or thong.
1897. Madden, Diary W. Silence, 23. The huntsman then held him [the bloodhound] short, pulling in the liam.
1898. W. A. Baillie-Grohman, in Pall Mall Mag., Oct., 164. The second illustration shows the huntsmen with their hounds on the lyam seeking for deer.
b. Her. The representation of a lyam or leash.
1572. Bossewell, Armorie, II. 43. A Lyon Couchante, & three Lyams in chefe d’argent.
1634. [see LYAM-HOUND c].
c. Comb.: lyam-dog = LYAN-HOUND.
1805. Scott, Last Minstrel, VI. vii. Stout Conrade, cold … Was by a woodman’s lyme-dog found.
2. Short for LYAM-HOUND.
1486. Bk. St. Albans, F vj b. A Sute of a lyam.
1605. Shaks., Lear, III. vi. 72. Mastiffe, Grey-hound, Mongrill, Grim, Hound or Spaniell, Brache, or Lym [1st Fo. Hym].
