warms

1. 1
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of warm.

   A wood stove warms the whole cabin within an hour.

   Her steady encouragement warms even the most nervous newcomer.

   Note

   One spelling covers every present-tense use with a singular subject. The verb behind it works both ways: transitively, a stove warms a room, and intransitively, the room itself warms. The figurative uses split the same way. A reluctant listener warms, or warms up, as their favor grows, while a lively speech warms its audience by engaging and enlivening it.

2. 2
   nouncolloquial

   Plural of warm (rare).

   Note

   A colloquial count noun lies behind this plural. A warm is one act or spell of warming, a heating, so warms counts several of them. It belongs to relaxed speech rather than careful prose. The spelling is shared with the present-tense verb, and context tells them apart: "a few warms by the fire" is the noun, while "the fire warms it" is the verb.

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