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glaum

verb

Etymology

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.

  1. inherited from *klamjaną✻
  2. inherited from *klammjan✻
  3. inherited from clæmman
  4. inherited from *clammen✻

Definitions

  1. To grasp or snatch (at), usually feebly or ineffectually

    To grasp or snatch (at), usually feebly or ineffectually; to grope (at) with the hands, as in the dark.

    • 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.
    • "Few get what they glaum at."
    • She plays a game of blind-man's bute, / Glaums at the first she touches; / Even if the coof has coin enough, / She multiplies his riches.

  2. To search (for something).

    • Pádraig Ó Cíobháin, of An Spidéal, heard the word glauming from his mother-in-law , Kathleen Lanigan, in Kilkenny. The good lady offered this gloss: 'She'd be going around the house glauming for something - searching for [it].'
    • Linda eyed Teddy intently, he was still glauming his mind for something, anything. He was not giving up. Linda asked himself, just what happened to this guy? Tina was still sulking from the balcony, Mrs Abebe attempted throughout the[…]

  3. To look sullen or sad

    To look sullen or sad; scowl, frown.

    • I drop my bantering side, glauming a hard frown. “Why would your clients not want you to execute on these in full? Obviously you have a skilled eye for dramatic impact. And I know naught of intricate fashion construction,[…]
  4. ›+ 1 more definition

    1. To look (at), to stare (at).

      • He drummed on the table, glauming at me and through me until I wondered if I should count the interview ended. Then of a sudden he shouted, […]

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for glaum. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA