The noun is derived from Middle English rim, rime, rym, ryme (“hoar frost; rime”), from Old English hrīm (“frost”), from Proto-West Germanic *hrīm (“rime; hoar frost”), from Proto-Germanic *hrīmą (North Germanic), *hrīmaz, *hrīmô (“rime; hoar frost”), probably from Proto-Indo-European *krey- (“to graze, touch; to streak”).
The verb is derived from the noun. (The Old English equivalent, which did not survive into modern English, was behrīman.)
Cognates
* Middle Dutch riim, rijm, rīm (modern Dutch rijm (“hoar frost”))
* Old Danish *rim (only in rimfrost (“rime frost”); modern Danish rim (“hoar frost”))
* Old French rime, rimee (Middle French rime, rimee (“hoar frost”), Anglo-Norman rime, rimee (“hoar frost”))
* Old High German rīm (Middle High German rīm, Bavarian Reim (“dew; fog; light frost”) (dialectal))
* Old Norse hrím (Icelandic hrím, Norwegian rim (“hoar frost”))
* Old Saxon hrīm
* Old Swedish *riim, *rim (only in rimfrost (“rime frost”); modern Swedish rim)
* West Frisian rime, rym
Meanings
(countable, uncountable) Archaic in the form rimes: originally, any frozen dew forming a white deposit on exposed surfaces; hoar frost (sense 1).
But there are accents sweeter far / When Love leaps down our evening star, / Holds back the blighting wings of Time, / Melts with his breath the crusty rime, […] 1846, Walter Savage Landor, “[Miscellaneous.] [Poem] CCXX.”, in The Works of Walter Savage Landor. […], volume II, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 656, column 1:
The raw rimes were not so pernicious as in the hollows, and the frosts were scarcely so severe. 1883 March, Thomas Hardy, “The Three Strangers”, in Wessex Tales: Strange, Lively, and Commonplace […], volume I, London; New York, N.Y.: Macmillan and Co., published 1888, →OCLC, page 5:
And moonlight splendour of intensest rime, / With which frost paints the pines in winter time. 1820 (date written), Percy Bysshe Shelley, “The Witch of Atlas”, in Mary W[ollstonecraft] Shelley, editor, Posthumous Poems of Percy Bysshe Shelley, London: […] [C. H. Reynell] for John and Henry L[eigh] Hunt, […], published 1824, →OCLC, stanza XLIV, page 43:
Sylphs! if vvith morn deſtructive Eurus ſprings, / O, claſp the Harebel vvith your velvet vvings; / Screen vvith thick leaves the Jaſmine as it blovvs, / And ſhake the vvhite rime from the ſhuddering Roſe; […] 1791, [Erasmus Darwin], “Canto IV”, in The Botanic Garden; a Poem, in Two Parts. […], London: J[oseph] Johnson, […], →OCLC, part I (The Economy of Vegetation), page 204, lines 523–526:
In a Hoar-Froſt, that vvhich vve call a Rime, is a Multitude of Quadrangular Priſmes, exactly figured, but piled vvithout any Order, one over another. 1701, Nehemiah Grew, “Of the Principles of Bodies”, in Cosmologia Sacra: Or A Discourse of the Universe as It is the Creature and Kingdom of God. […], London: […] W[illiam] Rogers, S[amuel] Smith, and B[enjamin] Walford: […], →OCLC, 1st book, paragraph 33, page 16:
The night had been heavy and lowering: but towards the morning it had changed to a slight frost: and the ground and the trees were now covered with rime. 1821 September–October, [Thomas De Quincey], “[Part I.] Preliminary Confessions.”, in Confessions of an English Opium-Eater, 2nd edition, London: […] [J. Moyes] for Taylor and Hessey, […], published 1823, →OCLC, page 71:
I rose, put on my shoes, and began to walk up and down the floor to try and warm myself. I looked out; there was rime on the window; it was snowing. 1899, Knut Hamsun, “Part III”, in George Egerton [pseudonym; Mary Chavelita Dunne Bright], transl., Hunger […], London: Leonard Smithers and Co […], →OCLC, page 167:
(countable, figuratively, uncountable) A film or slimy coating.
(countable, figuratively, uncountable) White hair as an indication of old age.
The cold within him [Ebenezer Scrooge] froze his old features, nipped his pointed nose, shrivelled his cheek, stiffened his gait; made his eyes red, his thin lips blue; and spoke out shrewdly in his grating voice. A frosty rime was on his head, and on his eyebrows, and his wiry chin. 1843 December 19, Charles Dickens, “Stave I. Marley’s Ghost.”, in A Christmas Carol. […], London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, page 3:
Tales that have the rime of age, / And chronicles of Eld. 1839, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “Prelude”, in Voices of the Night, Cambridge, Mass.: […] John Owen, →OCLC, page xi:
(countable, uncountable) Ice formed by the rapid freezing of cold water droplets of fog on to a cold surface.
(countable, uncountable) A coating or sheet of ice so formed.
(UK, countable, regional, uncountable) A cold fog or mist.
When Tommy and Elspeth reached the Den the mist lay so thick that they had to feel their way though it to the Ailie, where they found Gavinia alone and scared. […] "As sure as death," she said, "there was some living thing standing there; I couldna see it for the rime, but I heard it breathing hard." 1896, J[ames] M[atthew] Barrie, “End of the Jacobite Rising”, in Sentimental Tommy: The Story of His Boyhood, London; Paris: Cassell and Company […], →OCLC, page 341:
nb rim (any frozen dew forming a white deposit on exposed surfaces — see also hoar frost) · ro chiciură (any frozen dew forming a white deposit on exposed surfaces — see also hoar frost) · arz تلج (any frozen dew forming a white deposit on exposed surfaces — see also hoar frost) · hi तुषार (any frozen dew forming a white deposit on exposed surfaces — see also hoar frost) · az qırov (any frozen dew forming a white deposit on exposed surfaces — see also hoar frost) · uk на́морозь (any frozen dew forming a white deposit on exposed surfaces — see also hoar frost) · ru и́зморозь (any frozen dew forming a white deposit on exposed surfaces — see also hoar frost) · rup brumã (any frozen dew forming a white deposit on exposed surfaces — see also hoar frost) · fi huurre (any frozen dew forming a white deposit on exposed surfaces — see also hoar frost) · izh härme (any frozen dew forming a white deposit on exposed surfaces — see also hoar frost) · id rime (any frozen dew forming a white deposit on exposed surfaces — see also hoar frost) · cs námraza (any frozen dew forming a white deposit on exposed surfaces — see also hoar frost) · nn rim (any frozen dew forming a white deposit on exposed surfaces — see also hoar frost) · nl vriesdauw (any frozen dew forming a white deposit on exposed surfaces — see also hoar frost) · ar بَرَد (any frozen dew forming a white deposit on exposed surfaces — see also hoar frost) · de Raureif (any frozen dew forming a white deposit on exposed surfaces — see also hoar frost) · mk иње (any frozen dew forming a white deposit on exposed surfaces — see also hoar frost) · af ryp (any frozen dew forming a white deposit on exposed surfaces — see also hoar frost) · hu zúzmara (any frozen dew forming a white deposit on exposed surfaces — see also hoar frost) · ka ჭირხლი (any frozen dew forming a white deposit on exposed surfaces — see also hoar frost) · fi huurre (ice formed by the rapid freezing of cold water droplets of fog on to a cold surface; coating or sheet of ice so formed) · lt šarmà (any frozen dew forming a white deposit on exposed surfaces — see also hoar frost) · el πάχνη (any frozen dew forming a white deposit on exposed surfaces — see also hoar frost) · ru седина (white hair as an indication of old age) · sq brymë (any frozen dew forming a white deposit on exposed surfaces — see also hoar frost) · es escarcha (ice formed by the rapid freezing of cold water droplets of fog on to a cold surface; coating or sheet of ice so formed) · nl rijp (any frozen dew forming a white deposit on exposed surfaces — see also hoar frost) · bg мраз (ice formed by the rapid freezing of cold water droplets of fog on to a cold surface; coating or sheet of ice so formed) · ka თრთვილი (any frozen dew forming a white deposit on exposed surfaces — see also hoar frost) · la pruina (any frozen dew forming a white deposit on exposed surfaces — see also hoar frost) · ro promoroacă (any frozen dew forming a white deposit on exposed surfaces — see also hoar frost) · hy եղյամ (any frozen dew forming a white deposit on exposed surfaces — see also hoar frost) · izh huurre (any frozen dew forming a white deposit on exposed surfaces — see also hoar frost) · pt escarcha (any frozen dew forming a white deposit on exposed surfaces — see also hoar frost) · nl rijm (any frozen dew forming a white deposit on exposed surfaces — see also hoar frost) · cmn 霜 (any frozen dew forming a white deposit on exposed surfaces — see also hoar frost) · cu иньи -ꙗ (any frozen dew forming a white deposit on exposed surfaces — see also hoar frost) · fr givre (any frozen dew forming a white deposit on exposed surfaces — see also hoar frost) · ja 霜 (any frozen dew forming a white deposit on exposed surfaces — see also hoar frost) · es escarcha (any frozen dew forming a white deposit on exposed surfaces — see also hoar frost) · pl szadź (any frozen dew forming a white deposit on exposed surfaces — see also hoar frost) · bg скреж (any frozen dew forming a white deposit on exposed surfaces — see also hoar frost) · fo rím (any frozen dew forming a white deposit on exposed surfaces — see also hoar frost) · mk слана (any frozen dew forming a white deposit on exposed surfaces — see also hoar frost) · bg слана (any frozen dew forming a white deposit on exposed surfaces — see also hoar frost) · uk і́ній (any frozen dew forming a white deposit on exposed surfaces — see also hoar frost) · lv sarma (any frozen dew forming a white deposit on exposed surfaces — see also hoar frost) · pdt Riep (any frozen dew forming a white deposit on exposed surfaces — see also hoar frost) · gd liath-reòthadh (any frozen dew forming a white deposit on exposed surfaces — see also hoar frost) · it brina (any frozen dew forming a white deposit on exposed surfaces — see also hoar frost) · lt šerkšnas (any frozen dew forming a white deposit on exposed surfaces — see also hoar frost) · sv rimfrost (any frozen dew forming a white deposit on exposed surfaces — see also hoar frost) · ota قراغو (any frozen dew forming a white deposit on exposed surfaces — see also hoar frost) · arz بَرَد (any frozen dew forming a white deposit on exposed surfaces — see also hoar frost) · fi valkohapsi (white hair as an indication of old age) · ru и́ней (any frozen dew forming a white deposit on exposed surfaces — see also hoar frost) · mk мраз (ice formed by the rapid freezing of cold water droplets of fog on to a cold surface; coating or sheet of ice so formed) · pt geada (any frozen dew forming a white deposit on exposed surfaces — see also hoar frost) · uk па́морозь (any frozen dew forming a white deposit on exposed surfaces — see also hoar frost) · ro brumă (any frozen dew forming a white deposit on exposed surfaces — see also hoar frost)
The noun is derived from Middle English rim, rime, rym, ryme (“hoar frost; rime”), from Old English hrīm (“frost”), from Proto-West Germanic *hrīm (“rime; hoar frost”), from Proto-Germanic *hrīmą (North Germanic), *hrīmaz, *hrīmô (“rime; hoar frost”), probably from Proto-Indo-European *krey- (“to graze, touch; to streak”).
The verb is derived from the noun. (The Old English equivalent, which did not survive into modern English, was behrīman.)
Cognates
* Middle Dutch riim, rijm, rīm (modern Dutch rijm (“hoar frost”))
* Old Danish *rim (only in rimfrost (“rime frost”); modern Danish rim (“hoar frost”))
* Old French rime, rimee (Middle French rime, rimee (“hoar frost”), Anglo-Norman rime, rimee (“hoar frost”))
* Old High German rīm (Middle High German rīm, Bavarian Reim (“dew; fog; light frost”) (dialectal))
* Old Norse hrím (Icelandic hrím, Norwegian rim (“hoar frost”))
* Old Saxon hrīm
* Old Swedish *riim, *rim (only in rimfrost (“rime frost”); modern Swedish rim)
* West Frisian rime, rym
Meanings
(transitive) To cover (something) with rime (noun etymology 1, noun sense 1 or etymology 1, noun sense 3.1) or (loosely) hoar frost.
[T]he hoar was a blanching on post and hedge, riming the dykes, […] 1933 July, Lewis Grassic Gibbon [pseudonym; James Leslie Mitchell], “Stratus”, in Cloud Howe, London: Jarrolds Publishers […], →OCLC, page 193:
―No more ſhall hoary Boreas, iſſuing forth / VVith Eurus, lead the tempeſts of the North; / Rime the pale Davvn, or veil'd in flaky ſhovvers / Chill the ſvveet boſoms of the ſmiling Hours. 1791, [Erasmus Darwin], “Canto IV”, in The Botanic Garden; a Poem, in Two Parts. […], London: J[oseph] Johnson, […], →OCLC, part I (The Economy of Vegetation), page 186, lines 311–314:
(figuratively, transitive) To cover (something) with a thin coating or film; to coat.
Oh, London, London! […] the mornings silvery gray, and the multitudinous monuments rimed by years, thunder of hoofs in ways without end, and the silence of mighty parks—Bud lay awake in the nights to think of them. 1907, Neil Munro, chapter XXXII, in Bud […], New York, N.Y.; London: Harper & Brothers, →OCLC, page 300:
(intransitive) Sometimes followed by up: of a thing: to become covered with rime or (loosely) hoar frost.
fi huurruttaa (to cover (something) with rime or hoar frost) · bg заскрежа се (of a thing: to become covered with rime or hoar frost) · bg заскрежавам (to cover (something) with rime or hoar frost) · bg заскрежавам се (of a thing: to become covered with rime or hoar frost) · fi huurtua (of a thing: to become covered with rime or hoar frost) · bg заскрежа (to cover (something) with rime or hoar frost)
A variant of rhyme (noun and verb), from Middle English rim, rime, ryme (“identical sound in words from the vowel in their stressed syllables to their ends; measure, meter, rhythm; song, verse, etc., with rhyming lines”, noun), and Middle English rimen, rymen, rim, rime (“to recite or write verse; to sing songs; to tell a story in verse; to fit into verse; (figurative) to agree, make sense”, verb): see further at rhyme.
Meanings
(alt-of, archaic, countable, uncountable) Archaic spelling of rhyme (“word that rhymes with another”).
Samuel Taylor Coleridge wrote The Rime of the Ancient Mariner in 1797–1798.
[S]hould not all the world delight to honour this unfortunate and loyal follower of the Muses? May Apollo send him rimes hitherto undreamed of; […] 1878, Robert Louis Stevenson, “Précy and the Marionettes”, in An Inland Voyage, London: C[harles] Kegan Paul & Co., […], →OCLC, page 232:
VVhen in the Chronicle of vvaſted time, / I ſee diſcriptions of the faireſt vvights, / And beautie making beautifull old rime, / In praiſe of Ladies dead, and louely Knights, […] 1609, William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 106”, in Shake-speares Sonnets. […], London: By G[eorge] Eld for T[homas] T[horpe] and are to be sold by William Aspley, →OCLC, signature G3, recto:
I thought, if I could dravv my paines, / Through Rimes vexation, I ſhould them allay, / Griefe brought to numbers cannot be ſo fierce, / For, he tames it, that fetters it in verſe. a. 1631 (date written), J[ohn] Donne, “The Triple Foole”, in Poems, […] with Elegies on the Authors Death, London: […] M[iles] F[lesher] for Iohn Marriot, […], published 1633, →OCLC, page 204:
Sometimes a man knovvs a place determinate, vvithin the compaſſe vvhereof he is to ſeek: […] as a man ſhould run over the Alphabet, to ſtart a rime. 1651, Thomas Hobbes, “Of the Consequence or Trayne of Imaginations”, in Leviathan, or The Matter, Forme, & Power of a Common-wealth Ecclesiasticall and Civill, London: […] [William Wilson] for Andrew Crooke, […], →OCLC, 1st part (Of Man), page 10:
Thou, thou, Lyſander, thou haſt giuen her rimes, / And interchang'd loue tokens vvith my childe: […] c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, A Midsommer Nights Dreame. […] (First Quarto), London: […] [Richard Bradock] for Thomas Fisher, […], published 1600, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i], signature A2, verso:
[M]ary I cannot ſhevv it in rime, I haue tried, I can finde out no rime to Ladie, but babie, an innocent rime: for ſcorne, horne, a hard rime: for ſchoole foole, a babling rime: very ominous endings, no, I vvas not borne vnder a riming plannet, nor I cannot vvooe in feſtiuall termes: […] 1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, Much Adoe about Nothing. […], quarto edition, London: […] V[alentine] S[immes] for Andrew Wise, and William Aspley, published 1600, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii], signature I, verso:
Libels are caſt againſt thee in the ſtreete, / Ballads and rimes made of thy ouerthrovv. 1594, Christopher Marlow[e], The Troublesome Raigne and Lamentable Death of Edward the Second, King of England: […], London: […] [Eliot’s Court Press] for Henry Bell, […], published 1622, →OCLC, [Act II], signature [D4], recto:
(countable, uncountable) The second part of a syllable, from the vowel on (as opposed to the onset).
A variant of rhyme (noun and verb), from Middle English rim, rime, ryme (“identical sound in words from the vowel in their stressed syllables to their ends; measure, meter, rhythm; song, verse, etc., with rhyming lines”, noun), and Middle English rimen, rymen, rim, rime (“to recite or write verse; to sing songs; to tell a story in verse; to fit into verse; (figurative) to agree, make sense”, verb): see further at rhyme.
Ha, ha, hovv vildely doth this Cynicke rime? 1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene ii], page 125, column 2:
“He was aye rimin’,” said Miss Newbigging, “about this bonny countryside and the dacent folk that bode in it.” 1936 July, John Buchan, “Sanctuary”, in The Island of Sheep, London: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC, part II (Laverlaw), pages 152–153:
How Panurge and the rest rim'd with Poetick Fury [chapter title] 1653, Francis Rabelais [i.e., François Rabelais], translated by [Thomas Urquhart, Peter Anthony Motteux], chapter XLVII, in The Works of Francis Rabelais, Doctor in Physick: Containing Five Books of the Lives, Heroick Deeds, and Sayings of Gargantua, and His Sonne Pantagruel. […], London: […] [Thomas Ratcliffe and Edward Mottershead] for Richard Baddeley, […], →OCLC; republished in volume II, London: […] Navarre Society […], [1948], →OCLC, 5th book, page 418:
VVill you Rime vpon't, / And vent it for a Mock'rie? Heere is one: / Tvvo Boyes, an Oldman (tvvice a Boy) a Lane, / Preſeru'd the Britaines, vvas the Romanes bane. 1611 April (first recorded performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene v], page 393, column 1:
From Middle English rimen, rime (“to count, enumerate”) [and other forms], from Old English rīman, rȳman (“to count, number, reckon; to calculate, compute, count up; to enumerate, recount; to account, esteem as”) (rare), from Proto-Germanic *rīmijaną, *rīmaną (“to count, enumerate”), from Proto-Indo-European *(a)rēy- (“to add; to count; to customize; to order, regulate”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *h₂rey- (“to arrange; to count”), ultimately from *h₂er- (“to fit, put together; to fix; to slot”), and thus a doublet of rhyme.
Meanings
(ambitransitive, archaic) Followed by up: to count (something); to number, to reckon.
From Middle English rimen, rime (“to clear (a way); to make room for (something); to open up (something); to prepare (something)”) [and other forms], from Old English rīman, rȳman (“to make roomy, enlarge, extend, spread, widen; to make clear by removing obstructions, to clear a way, clear, open up; to amplify; to prolong”) [and other forms], from Proto-West Germanic *rūmijan (“to clear out, make room”), from Proto-Germanic *rūmijaną (“to clear out, make room”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *Hrewh₁- (“to open; wide”). Doublet of room.
Meanings
(transitive) Synonym of ream. ▸ To enlarge (a hole), especially using a tool such as a reamer.
(transitive) Synonym of ream. ▸ To remove debris from inside (something, such as a freshly bored hole or a pipe) using a tool.
From Irish ruaim, from Old Irish rúam (“alder tree; alder bark; dye for wool made from alder bark; dun or red colour”) (probably whence Irish ruaimnigh, Old Irish rúamnaigid (“to dye red”)); further etymology unknown.
Meanings
(Ireland, rare, transitive) To dye (wool or yarn) reddish-brown by boiling or soaking in water with alder twigs.
The noun is derived from Late Middle English rim (“cleft, crack, fissure”), from Latin rīma (“chink, cleft, crack, fissure”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(H)reyH- (“to cut; to tear”). Doublet of rima.
The verb is derived from Latin rīmārī, the present active infinitive of rīmor (“to explore; to probe; to search”), from rīma (see above) + -or.
Meanings
(obsolete, transitive) A narrow aperture or opening; a chink, a crack, a fissure; a rent, a rip.
[T]he ſevvet of oxen […] is alſo good againſt the inflammation of the eares, the ſtupidity and dulneſſe of the teeth, the running of the eyes, the vlcers and rimes of the mouth, and ſtiffneſſe of the neck. 1607, Conradus Gesnerus [i.e., Conrad Gessner]; Edward Topsell, “Of Cowes”, in The Historie of Foure-footed Beastes. […], London: […] William Iaggard, →OCLC, page 83:
[T]hough birds have no Epiglottis, yet can they ſo contract the rime or chinck of their Larinx, as to prevent the admiſſion of vvet or dry ingeſted, […] 1646, Thomas Browne, “Of the Passage of Meate and Drinke”, in Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […], London: […] T[homas] H[arper] for Edward Dod, […], →OCLC, 4th book, paragraph 10, page 198:
The noun is derived from Late Middle English rim (“cleft, crack, fissure”), from Latin rīma (“chink, cleft, crack, fissure”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(H)reyH- (“to cut; to tear”). Doublet of rima.
The verb is derived from Latin rīmārī, the present active infinitive of rīmor (“to explore; to probe; to search”), from rīma (see above) + -or.
Meanings
(intransitive, obsolete, rare, transitive) Followed by into: to probe, to pry.
Our act was, with finger, and nail, and eye, to rime into every jot of it [a case]; and our words were—'I am sure there is something inside. If not, it would open sensibly.' 1877, R[ichard] D[oddridge] Blackmore, “Hermetically Sealed”, in Erema: Or My Father’s Sin […], volume III, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC, page 55: