teem
/tiːm/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.07 in modern English
6
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
3
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To be stocked to overflowing.
verb
To fall prolifically.
verb
To bring forth young, as an animal; to produce fruit, as a plant; to bear; to be pregnant; to conceive; to multiply.
Obsolete
verb
To pour (especially with rain)
Example Sentences
- "But well he knew his teeming pangs were vain, Till Midwife Dryden eas’d his labouring Brain;"
- "his mind teeming with schemes of future deceit to cover former villainy"
- "Fish teem in this pond."
- "The steel works, with their Siemens furnaces, the rail-rolling mill with its enormous single-cylinder engine fitted with Corliss valve gear, and the forge in which were installed the great steam hammers and hydraulic presses—these were teeming with interest, and the best way to pick up information was to work with the millwrights."
- "Risk is everywhere. From tabloid headlines insisting that coffee causes cancer (yesterday, of course, it cured it) to stern government warnings about alcohol and driving, the world is teeming with goblins."
- ""Troth, it's teemin' powerful this instiant up there in the mountains. 'Twill be much if you land home afore it's atop of you; […]""
Etymology
From Middle English temen (“to bear, to support”), from Anglian Old English tēman (“to give birth”) (West Saxon Old English tīeman), from Proto-West Germanic *taumijan (“to bridle”), from Proto-Germanic *taumijaną, from *taumaz ("bridle", continued in Modern English as team).
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: *dewk-, temen, tēman, *taumijan, *taumijaną, tœma