lum
/lʌm/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.59 in modern English
5
Scrabble Score
3
Letters
1
Syllables
3
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A deep pool, especially one in a riverbed.
name
An English surname transferred from the place name.
name
A diminutive of the male given name Columbus.
Example Sentences
- "Now, by this time, the ſun begins to leam, / An' litt the hill-heads, wi' his morning beam, / An' birds, and beaſts, and fouk to be aſteer, / And ſtreams o' reek frae lumb heads to appear; […]"
- "He bleez'd ovvre her, an' ſhe ovvre him, / As they vvad never mair part, / Till, fuff! he ſtarted up the lum, / An' Jean had e'en a ſair heart / To ſee't that night."
- "Sae, I wad not trust mysell with another look at poor Woodend, for the very blue reek that came out of the lum-head pat me in mind of the change of market-days with us."
- "Down the broad lum / Came melting flakes that hiss'd upon the coal; / Under my eyelids blew the blinding smoke, / And for a time I sat like one bewitch'd, / Still as a stone."
- "Two "lums" on the ridge served the double purpose of letting out the smoke and in the light. […] A new peat fire had been put on, and the day being calm, the lazy smoke seemed more inclined to remain inside than to go out the lums, as it ought to have done."
- ""I heard a boy there speak of soot. Where is soot to be had?" / "Up lums, said Weepie, laughing. / […] / "But why not let it stay in the lums?" / "'Cause it wad come doon and splairge the parritch and the broth, and maybe set the lum on fire.""
Etymology
Borrowed from Scots lum, Early Scots lumb; further etymology uncertain, but probably from Cumbric *lümon, related to Welsh llumon (“chimney”) (obsolete), from Proto-Celtic *loimono. Possibly at least influenced by Old French lum (“light”), lume (“cooking fire”) (compare French lumière (“light; cavity or channel within a tube or tubular organ, lumen; opening”)), from Latin lūmen (“light; light source; opening through which light can penetrate such as an air-hole or window; opening or orifice in a water-pipe or funnel”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *lewk- (“bright; to see; to shine”).
Origin
- Source language: Old French
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /lʌm/
- British English: /lʌm/