ream
English
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ɹiːm/
Audio (General Australian): (file) - Homophone: rheme
- Rhymes: -iːm
Audio (UK): (file)
Etymology 1
From Middle English reme, rem, from Old English rēam (“cream”), from Proto-West Germanic *raum, from Proto-Germanic *raumaz (“cream”), from Proto-Indo-European *réwgʰmn̥ (“to sour [milk]”).
Cognate with Dutch room (“cream”), German Rahm (“cream”) (whence German Wolfram), Norwegian rømme (“sour cream”), Icelandic rjómi (“cream”). See also ramekin.
Alternative forms
Noun
ream
- (UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) Cream; also, the creamlike froth on ale or other liquor; froth or foam in general.
Verb
ream (third-person singular simple present reams, present participle reaming, simple past and past participle reamed)
- (UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) To cream; mantle; foam; froth.
- 1814 July 7, [Walter Scott], Waverley; or, ’Tis Sixty Years Since. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, →OCLC:
- a huge pewter measuring pot […] which, in the language of the hostess, reamed with excellent claret
Etymology 2
Etymology uncertain, possibly a variant of rime (etymology 4).[1] Doublet of room.
Verb
ream (third-person singular simple present reams, present participle reaming, simple past and past participle reamed)
- (transitive) To enlarge (a hole), especially using a reamer; to bore (a hole) wider.
- Synonym: rime
- (transitive) To remove (material) by reaming.
- (transitive) To remove burrs and debris from inside (something, such as a freshly bored hole) using a tool.
- Synonym: rime
- To shape or form, especially using a reamer.
- (slang, vulgar, by extension from sense of enlarging a hole) To sexually penetrate in a rough and painful way.
- (slang) To yell at or berate.
- Synonym: ream out
Alternative forms
Synonyms
- (to sexually penetrate): dig out, nail, root, tap; see also Thesaurus:copulate with
Derived terms
Translations
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Etymology 3
From Middle English reme, from Old French raime, rayme (“ream”) (French rame), from Catalan raima (“ream”), from Arabic رِزْمَة (rizma, “bundle”).
Alternative forms
- reme (obsolete)
Noun
ream (plural reams)
- A bundle, package, or quantity of paper, nowadays usually containing 500 sheets.
- (chiefly in the plural) An abstract large amount of something.
- Synonyms: bunch, load, pile; see also Thesaurus:lot
- I can't go – I still have reams of work left.
Derived terms
Translations
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See also
- Units of paper quantity on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
References
- ^ “ream, v.4”, in OED Online , Oxford: Oxford University Press, September 2023; “ream2, v.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
Anagrams
Friulian
Etymology
Probably from Latin regimen, regimine. Compare French royaume (Old French reaume, reiame), Occitan reialme, Romansh reginam.
Pronunciation
Noun
ream m (plural reams)
Related terms
Latin
Noun
ream f
- accusative singular of rea
Middle English
Noun
ream
- alternative form of rem
Old English
Etymology
From Proto-West Germanic *raum, from Proto-Germanic *raumaz.
Cognate with Middle Low German rōm, Middle Dutch room, Old High German roum (German Rahm), Old Norse rjúmi (Icelandic rjómi, Norwegian rømme).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ræ͜ɑːm/
Noun
rēam m
Descendants
Scots
Etymology
Late Middle English, from Old English ream (“cream”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /rim/
Noun
ream (uncountable)