glaum
English
Etymology 1
Alteration of dialectal clam, claum (“to grope or grasp ineffectually, snatch”), from Middle English *clammen, *clemmen, from Old English clæmman, clemman, from Proto-West Germanic *klammjan, from Proto-Germanic *klamjaną. In some senses, likely influenced by clamber. Compare dialectal glaump, glamp (“to grasp, snatch at, clutch, grope", also "gulp”), Scots clam, claum (“to grope or grasp ineffectually, snatch”), Norwegian klemme (“to seize with claws”), Middle High German klemmen (“to squeeze”). Doublet of glom. Related also to English clamp.
Verb
glaum (third-person singular simple present glaums, present participle glauming, simple past and past participle glaumed)
- (Scotland) To grope with the hands, as in the dark.
- (Scotland) To grasp or snatch (at), usually feebly or ineffectually.
- 1789, Burns, Robert (lyrics), “The Battle of Sherramuir”:
- My heart, for fear, gaed sough for sough, / To hear the thuds, and see the cluds / O' clans frae woods, in tartan duds, / Wha glaum'd at kingdoms three.
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Synonyms
- (grope with the hands): fumble, grubble; see also Thesaurus:feel around
- (grasp, snatch): clutch, grab; see also Thesaurus:grasp
Etymology 2
From Middle English gloumen, glomen (“to look glum or sullen, scowl, frown at, lower”), from Old Norse glám- (in compounds), cognate with Norwegian Nynorsk glåma (“to stare”).
Alternative forms
- glawm, gloom
Verb
glaum (third-person singular simple present glaums, present participle glauming, simple past and past participle glaumed)
- (Northern England, Scotland) To look sullen or sad; scowl, frown; look, stare (at)
Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for glaum in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913)
Anagrams
- algum, almug, mulga