arch. Forms: 4–5 bame, 4–6 bawme, (5 boum), 5–6 balme, (balmbe), 6 baum, 7– balm. [app. f. BALM sb.; but cf. OF. enbasmer (12th c.), also balsamer to embalm, bausmer ? to breathe perfume.]
1. trans. To embalm. arch.
c. 1300. K. Alis., 4671. Theo body was bawmed, and leyd in a schryne.
c. 1420. Anturs Arth., xiv. Quyl the body be boumet and broȝte on a bere.
1611. Speed, Hist. Gt. Brit., IX. xxiv. (1632), 1161. Shee balming it [the head], sent it to her Holy Father.
1845. Kinglake, Eöthen, vi. 95. May have been a live king just after the Flood, but has since lain balmed in spice.
† 2. To anoint with fragrant, soothing or cleansing oil or other liquid. Obs.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., VII. xxi. (1495), 238. The sore place shall be bamyd wyth oylle of roses.
1486. Bk. St. Albans, Hawking, A vj. [The hawk] fetchith moysture lyk oyle at her tayle, and bamyth her fete.
1596. Shaks., Tam. Shr., Induct. 48. Balme his foule head in warme distilled waters.
1600. Chapman, Odyss., IV. 60. Where handmaids … Bath’d, balm’d them.
† b. To mix or impregnate with balm. Obs.
1530. Palsgr., 444/2. When a medicyn is bawmed it hath a stronge savour.
† c. To smear with something resinous or sticky; also rarely, to smear on (the sticky material). Obs. or dial.
1382. Wyclif, John ix. 6. He … leyde, or bawmede, the cley on his yȝen. Ibid. (1388), Ex. ii. 3. Sche bawmede [1382 glewide] it with tar and pitch.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XII. iv. Some [bees] bryngeþ … þinges þat ben sumdel gleymy and glewy, and bawmeþ þerwith þe hyue.
1857. Wright, Provinc. Dict., He bawmed and slawmed it all over mortar and wash.
3. To soothe, alleviate (pain, sorrow, etc.). arch.
a. 1400. Chester Pl., 165. Myrre … is beste to balmbe his thoo.
1605. Shaks., Lear, III. vi. 105. This rest might yet have balm’d thy broken senses.
1877. M. Arnold, Poems, I. 203. Only death can balm thy woe.
