Now dial. Forms: 1 Angl. tharm, þarm, WSax. þearm, thearm; 3 þærm, þerm, 3–4 þarm, 4 þearm, 5 thaarme, 5– tharm; (6–7 dial. therm, 8–9 Sc. therm, thairm). [OE. þarm, þearm = OFris. therm (WFris. term), OLG. *þarm (MDu. darm, darem, Du. darm, OHG. darm, daram (MHG., MLG., Ger. darm), ON. þarmr (Sw., Da. tarm):—OTeut. *þarm-oz, f. Indo-Eur. ablaut series ter: tor: tr to go through. Cf. Gr. τρῆμα perforation, τράμις perineum.]
1. An intestine; chiefly in pl., bowels, viscera, entrails; in quot. c. 1460 transf.
a. 700. Epinal Gloss. (O.E.T.), 503. Intestinum, thearm.
c. 725. Corpus Gloss., 2140. Viscera, tharme, thumle. Ibid., 870. Fibra, þearm.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Gram., xiii. (Z.), 85. Exta, þearmas.
c. 1205. Lay., 818. Moni þusend þer flowen, þærmes heo droȝen [c. 1275 þarmes idrowen].
1303. R. Brunne, Handl. Synne, 702. Of þe chylde þat she bare … Al to-drawe were þe þarmys.
c. 1380. Sir Ferumb., 949. Þay stykede þorȝ guttes & þearmes, so foule with hem þei ferde.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 490/1. Thaarme (or gutte), sumen, viscus.
c. 1460. Towneley Myst., xiii. 391. I haue … A house full of yong tharmes,… wo is hym has many barnes.
1535. Coverdale, 2 Macc. ix. 5. There came vpon him an horrible payne of his bowels, & a sore grefe of the tharmes.
1721. Kelly, Scot. Prov., 137. He that has a wide Therm, had never a long Arm.
1877. N. W. Linc. Gloss., Tharm, the colon.
2. An intestine as cleansed and prepared for some purpose: see quots. Also, in sing., as a substance or material; catgut for fiddle-strings, etc.
[1545. Ascham, Toxoph., II. (Arb.), 110. Eustathius … doeth tel, that in oulde tyme they made theyr bowe strynges of bullox thermes.
1631. R. H., Arraignm. Whole Creature, xvi. 291. The strings made of Wolves will never tune right with those made of the Thermes of Sheepe.]
1671. Skinner, Etymol. Ang., Tharm, vox agro Linc. usitatissima pro Intestinis mundatis ad Botulos seu Farcinima paranda inflatis.
1674. Ray, N. C. Wds., Tharm, guts prepared, cleansed, and blown up for to receive puddings; Lincolnsh.
1755. Johnson, Tharm, intestines twisted for several uses.
1786. Burns, Ordination, vii. Come, screw the pegs wi’ tunefu’ cheep, And o’er the thairms be tryin. Ibid. (1787), To Haggis, i. Aboon them a’ ye tak your place, Painch, tripe, or thairm.
1816. J. Cleland, Rise & Progr. Glasgow (1820), 275. A work in which Therm was manufactured from the intestines of animals.
1824. Scott, Redgauntlet, Let. x. The best fiddler that ever kittled thairm with horse-hair.
1881. W. Anderson, in Mod. Sc. Poets, II. 238. Thairm, to mount a spinnin wheel.
3. attrib. and Comb., as tharm-band, -string.
1786. Burns, Brigs of Ayr, 202. O had M‘Lauchlan, thairm-inspiring Sage, Been there to hear this heavenly band engage.
1788. G. Turnbull, Poet. Ess., 185. Therm-strings for spinning Wheels and fiddles.
1825. Jamieson, Thairm-band, a string or cord of catgut for … a spinning-wheel.
