# teem

Pronunciation: say "TEEM" US /tim/, UK /tiːm/

## Verb

1. To be present in great numbers; to abound or be full of something.
   - Simple: To be very full of living things or activity.
   - _The pond teems with frogs every spring._
   - _On market day, the streets teem with vendors and shoppers._
2. To be stocked so full that the contents seem ready to overflow.
   - Simple: To be so full that things almost spill over.
   - _The harbor teems with fishing boats every weekend._
   - _Her shelves teem with so many books they seem ready to spill over._
3. To pour down heavily, especially of rain.
   - Simple: To rain very hard.
   - _Rain will teem down before noon if those clouds hold._
   - _It teemed all night, and the lanes flooded by dawn._
4. To fall heavily and in great quantity, as snow does.
   - Simple: To fall very heavily, like thick snow.
   - _Snow teemed down for three days and buried the village._
   - _By dusk, sleet will teem across the valley._
6. To pour molten metal, such as steel, from a melting pot, or to fill a mold with it.
   - Simple: To pour melted metal into a mold.
   - _The workers teemed the molten steel into the waiting molds._
   - _Foundry workers teem the metal carefully to avoid trapped gas._
7. To drain the water off boiled food such as potatoes. *(dialectal, Ireland, Scotland)*
   - Simple: To pour the water off cooked food like potatoes.
   - _She teemed the potatoes and mashed them with butter._
   - _Teem the carrots before you add the sauce._

## Noun

5. A sudden, heavy fall of rain; a downpour.
   - Simple: A heavy fall of rain all at once.
   - _We got caught in a sudden teem on the way home._
   - _The afternoon teem left the gutters overflowing._

## Verb

8. To empty a container of its contents. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: To empty something out.
   - _She teemed the bucket into the trough._
   - _Teem the ashes onto the garden bed._
9. To bring forth young, bear fruit, become pregnant, or multiply. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To give birth to young or produce fruit.
10. To consider something proper or fitting; to see fit to do something. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To think something is the right thing to do.

## Origin

**Meanings 1–2, 4–5, 9** — From Middle English temen ("to bear, to support"), from Anglian Old English tēman ("to give birth"), tracing back through Proto-West Germanic *taumijan ("to bridle") and Proto-Germanic *taumijaną to *taumaz ("bridle"), which survives in Modern English as team.
**Meanings 3, 6–8** — From Middle English temen ("to drain"), from Old Norse tœma, from Proto-Germanic *tōmijaną ("to empty, make empty"). It is related to English toom ("empty, vacant").
**Meaning 10** — From Middle English temen ("to be suitable, befit"), from Old English *teman, from Proto-Germanic *temaną ("to fit"). It is cognate with Low German temen, tamen ("to befit"), Dutch betamen ("to befit"), and German ziemen, and is related to tame.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/teem (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).