var. of ’EM, HEM pron.
Common in 17th-c. writers; now only dial.
1606. Chapman, Gentlem. Usher, II. i. 82. Come strew this roome afresh; spread here this carpet…. Come sir Giles Goosecap, I must do all my selfe, lay me vm thus.
c. 1610. Beaum. & Fl., Philaster, I. i. But ever when he turned His tender eyes upon ’um, he would weep.
1664. Dryden & Howard, Ind. Queen, V. i. How can the Gods delight in humane blood? Think ’um not cruel; if you think ’um good.
1689. Pol. Ballads (1860), II. 12. May they all repent ’um And to Holland be sent home, On condition we lose all the money we lent ’um.
1859. J. Richardson, Song. Sol., v. 3. I’ve weish’t my feet: hoo s’all I soil um?
1887. Jefferies, Amaryllis, iii. 19. Th’ pigeons have been at um, they be ’mazing fond of um, so be the larks.
