Dictionary

beme en · NOUN

Etymology

Borrowed from Middle English beme, from Old English bēme, bȳme, bīeme (“wooden trumpet; tablet, billet”), from Proto-West Germanic *baumijā (“wooden instrument or utensil”), from Proto-Germanic *baumaz (“tree, lumber, beam, wood”). Related to beam.

Meanings

1. (historical) A mediaeval trumpet, usually used in hunting or warfare.
   • One of the long, curved horns was known as a beme and shows up as the instrument of choice blown by angels announcing the Biblical Day of Judgment. 2008, Suzanne Lord, Music in the Middle Ages:
   • […] be inserted directly into each other to make the long, straight beme or trompe. 2014, Jeremy Montagu, Horns and Trumpets of the World, page 94:
   • And when the host on both parties saw that sword drawn, then they blew bemes, trumpets, and horns, and shouted grimly, and so both hosts dressed them together. 2014, Sir Thomas Malory, Maureen Okun, Joseph Black, Le Morte Darthur, page 302:
   • Heart of lion! sound the beme! Sound it into inner lands; […] 1789, Thomas Chatterton, William Barrett's History of Bristol, page 641:

Forms