warm

• warme (obsolete)

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /wɔːm/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /wɔɹm/

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)m

From Middle English warm, werm, from Old English wearm, from Proto-West Germanic *warm, from Proto-Germanic *warmaz, either from Proto-Indo-European *wór-mo-s, from *wer- (“to burn”), or Proto-Indo-European *gʷʰor-mo-s, from the root *gʷʰer- (“warm, hot”). Cognate with West Frisian waarm, Saterland Frisian woorm, Dutch warm, German warm, Swedish varm, Icelandic varmur, Ancient Greek θερμός (thermós) (in which case perhaps a distant doublet of thermos), Latin formus, Sanskrit घर्म (gharmá), or alternatively from Proto-Indo-European *wer- (“to burn”), related to Hittite 𒉿𒊏𒀀𒉌 (warāni, “to burn”), Armenian վառել (vaṙel, “to burn, heat, warm”), Old Church Slavonic варити (variti, “to cook, boil”).

warm (comparative warmer, superlative warmest)

1. Of a somewhat high temperature, often but not always connoting that the high temperature is pleasant rather than uncomfortable.

   The tea is still warm.

   This is a very warm room.

   • 1863, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, The Herons of Elmwood:

     Warm and still is the summer night.

   • 1985, Robert Ferro, Blue Star:

     It seemed I was too excited for sleep, too warm, too young.

   • 2021 August 12, Katie Hunt, “Mammoths were the original ‘ice road truckers,’ traveling vast distances across the Arctic”, in CNN‎^[1]:

     While the study doesn’t directly shed light on why, it suggested that maintaining a similar degree of mobility as the climate changed to the warmer and wetter pattern we have today could have imparted additional stress as the mammoth encountered unfamiliar environments or restricted its movement.

   • 2024 March 8, Mary Gilbert and Eric Zerkel, “Winter is over, and it was the warmest on record. Here’s what the US missed out on this season”, in CNN‎^[2]:

     Kids jump into Lake Michigan during unseasonably warm conditions in Chicago on February 26, 2024. […] This winter was the warmest on record for the Lower 48, NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information said Friday. Records date to the late 1800s.

2. Friendly and with affection.

   We have a warm friendship.

3. Having a color in the part of the visible electromagnetic spectrum between red and yellow-green.
5. (informal) Close to a goal or correct answer.

   Earlier you were way off, but now you're getting warmer.

   • 1876, William Black, “An Encounter”, in Madcap Violet. […], volume III, London: Macmillan and Co., →OCLC, page 74:

     That was a further clue; and here, indeed, young Mr. Dowse was getting "warm," as children say at blind-man's-buff, although, as a matter-of-fact, she had now been talking of George Miller at all.

6. Fresh, of a scent; still able to be traced.
7. (figurative) Communicating a sense of comfort, ease, or pleasantness.

   a warm piano sound

8. (archaic) Ardent, zealous.

   a warm debate, with strong words exchanged

   • 1646 (indicated as 1645), John Milton, “Song on May Morning”, in Poems of Mr. John Milton, […], London: […] Ruth Raworth for Humphrey Mosely, […], →OCLC:

     Mirth, and youth, and warm desire!

   • 1712 September 22 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison; Richard Steele et al.], “THURSDAY, September 11, 1712”, in The Spectator, number 481; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume V, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC:

     They say he's a warm man and does not care to be made mouths at.

     The spelling has been modernized.

   • 1717, Alexander Pope, “Eloisa to Abelard”, in The Works of Mr. Alexander Pope, volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: […] W[illiam] Bowyer, for Bernard Lintot, […], published 1717, →OCLC:
   • 1776–1788, Edward Gibbon, chapter I, in The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: […] W[illiam] Strahan; and T[homas] Cadell, […], →OCLC:

     To the strength and fierceness of barbarians they added a contempt for life, which was derived from a warm persuasion of the immortality and transmigration of the soul.

   • 1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter, a Romance, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor, Reed, and Fields, →OCLC:

     I had been none of the warmest of partisans.

9. (archaic, informal) Well off as to property, or in good circumstances; prosperous.
   • 1766, [Oliver Goldsmith], The Vicar of Wakefield: […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), Salisbury, Wiltshire: […] B. Collins, for F[rancis] Newbery, […], →OCLC:

     You shall have a draught upon him, payable at sight: and let me tell you he is as warm a man as any within five miles round him.

   • 1791, Charlotte Smith, Celestina, Broadview, published 2004, page 258:

     Mrs. and the Miss Cathcarts began to be considered as people of some consequence in the circle in which they moved, while he gradually obtained in the city the name of a warm man.

   • 1824, Geoffrey Crayon [pseudonym; Washington Irving], Tales of a Traveller, (please specify |part=1 to 4), Philadelphia, Pa.: H[enry] C[harles] Carey & I[saac] Lea, […], →OCLC:

     I know the Stuyvesant family —puff— every one of them —puff— not a more respectable family in the province —puff— old standards —puff— warm householders —puff— none of your upstarts

10. (archaic) Requiring arduous effort.
    • 1929, The Listener, numbers 41-50, page 552:

      The circular iron platform over there is used in the task of tyring the wheels, a warm job, too, by the way.

• See also Thesaurus:warm
• See also Thesaurus:affectionate
• See also Thesaurus:difficult

• (antonym(s) of “mild temperature”): Arctic, cold, cool, frozen
• (antonym(s) of “caring”): Arctic, cold, cool, frozen

• heated
• hot
• steamy
• temperature
• tepid

From Middle English warmen, wermen, wyrmen, from Old English wierman (“to make warm”) and wearmian (“to become warm”), from Proto-West Germanic *warmijan and *warmōn. Cognate with Dutch warmen, German wärmen, Swedish värma.

warm (third-person singular simple present warms, present participle warming, simple past and past participle warmed)

1. (transitive) To make or keep warm.
   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Isaiah 44 44-Chapter-15/# 15::

     Then shall it [an ash tree] be for a man to burn; for he will take thereof and warm himself.

   • 1825, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Morituri Salutamus:

     enough to warm, but not enough to burn

2. (intransitive) To become warm, to heat up.

   My socks are warming by the fire.

   The earth soon warms on a clear summer day.

3. (intransitive) (sometimes in the form warm up) To favour increasingly. [with to]
   • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 5, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:

     Mr. Campion appeared suitably impressed and she warmed to him. He was very easy to talk to with those long clown lines in his pale face, a natural goon, born rather too early she suspected.

   He is warming to the idea.

   Her classmates are gradually warming to her.

4. (ditransitive with to) To cause (someone) to favour (something) increasingly.
   • 2006, Matt Wray, Not Quite White, page xi:

     It is with no small degree of irony that I confess that immersing myself in an interdisciplinary project has warmed me to the seductions of disciplinary perspectives.

5. (intransitive) To become ardent or animated.

   The speaker warms as he proceeds.

6. (transitive) To make engaged or earnest; to interest; to engage; to excite ardor or zeal in; to enliven.
   • 1717 November 20, Alexander Pope, letter to the Bishop of Rochester

     there was a collection of all that had been written […] : I warmed my head with them.

   • 1827, [John Keble], The Christian Year: Thoughts in Verse for the Sundays and Holydays throughout the Year, volume (please specify |volume=I or II), Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] [B]y W. Baxter, for J. Parker; and C[harles] and J[ohn] Rivington, […], →OCLC:

     Bright hopes, that erst the bosom warmed.

7. (transitive) To give emotional warmth to a person.
   • 1886, Joseph Augustus Seiss, Right Life: Or, Candid Talks On Vital Themes:

     That is just the way God tells me this book is His Word. I read it, and it warms me and gives me light.

8. (transitive, colloquial) To beat or spank.
   • 1945, The Atlantic, volume 176, page 94:

     Not bothering to turn around and not missing a mouthful, Myrtle comforted her with threats of "I'll warm your bottom"; "I'll turn you over to your dad"; "I'll lock you in the truck"; "I'll send for the bogey man" — all of which Darleen ignored […]

9. (transitive, colloquial) To scold or abuse verbally.
10. (computing, transitive) To prepopulate (a cache) so that its contents are ready for other users.

warm (plural warms)

1. (colloquial) The act of warming, or the state of being warmed; a heating.

   Shall I give your coffee a warm in the microwave?

   • 1843 December 19, Charles Dickens, “(please specify the page number)”, in A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas, London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC:

     Sit ye down before the fire , my dear , and have a warm

From Dutch warm, from Middle Dutch warm, from Old Dutch warm, from Proto-Germanic *warmaz.

• Audio:

  (file)

warm (attributive warm or (chiefly in figurative use) warme, comparative warmer, superlative warmste)

1. warm

   Ek het ure lank in die warm water gelê.

   I lay in the warm water for hours.

   Ek het aan almal my warme dank uitgespreek.

   I expressed my warm thanks to all.

   • 2016, “Dinge Raak Warm”, in Sal Jy Met My Dans?‎^[3], performed by Kurt Darren, South Africa:

     Dinge raak warm.

     Things are getting warm.

• verwarm
• warmte

• woare, woarm, wore, wérme

From Middle High German warm, from Old High German warm. Cognate with German warm, Dutch warm, English warm, Icelandic varmur.

warm

1. (Formazza) warm

• Patuzzi, Umberto, ed., (2013) Luserna / Lusérn: Le nostre parole / Ünsarne börtar / Unsere Wörter [Our Words], Luserna, Italy: Comitato unitario delle isole linguistiche storiche germaniche in Italia / Einheitskomitee der historischen deutschen Sprachinseln in Italien

From English warm.

warm

1. (Hong Kong Cantonese, of person, environment, family) warm (caring and loving)

From Middle Dutch warm, from Old Dutch warm, from Proto-West Germanic *warm, from Proto-Germanic *warmaz, of uncertain origin; derivations from either Proto-Indo-European *gʷʰer- (“warm, hot”) or *wer- (“to burn”) have been proposed.

• IPA^(key): /ʋɑr(ə)m/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: warm
• Rhymes: -ɑrm
• Homophone: Warm

warm (comparative warmer, superlative warmst)

1. warm, hot

   Antonym: koud

2. (meteorology, officially) 20 °C or more

Declension of warm
uninflected	warm
inflected	warme
comparative	warmer
		positive	comparative	superlative
predicative/adverbial		warm	warmer	het warmst het warmste
indefinite	m./f. sing.	warme	warmere	warmste
	n. sing.	warm	warmer	warmste
	plural	warme	warmere	warmste
definite		warme	warmere	warmste
partitive		warms	warmers	—

• Afrikaans: warm
• Berbice Creole Dutch: warum
• Negerhollands: warm, werm

• tropisch
• zomers

From Middle High German and Old High German warm.

• IPA^(key): /varm/, [vaʁm], [vaɐ̯m], [vaːm], [ʋ-]

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio:

  (file)

• Audio (Austria):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: warm

warm (strong nominative masculine singular warmer, comparative wärmer, superlative am wärmsten)

1. warm; mildly hot

   Antonyms: kalt, kühl

2. (of clothes) warm; keeping the wearer warm
3. (of rental prices, chiefly adverbial or in compounds) including heating costs, water, and fees (electricity may or may not be included)

   Ich zahle 800 € warm für meine Wohnung.

   I pay €800 for my apartment, including utilities.

4. (dated, except in warmer Bruder) gay, homosexual (mostly male)

   Synonym: schwul

• German warm means “warm”, but not “feeling warm”; therefore the phrase ich bin warm (literally “I am warm”) would mean that one’s body has a high temperature, particularly that one’s skin is warm on the outside. The English “I am warm” (that is: I feel warm) is equivalent to German mir ist warm (literally “to me it's warm”).
• Although warm (“gay”) is not in general use, this sense is current enough to make it advisable not to describe the relation between two men as warm (unless the implication is intended).

• “warm” in Duden online
• “warm” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

From Old Dutch warm, from Proto-West Germanic *warm.

warm

1. warm, hot
2. warm, keeping the wearer warm (of clothes)
3. warm (of emotions)

• wāerm
• werm

• Dutch: warm
  • Afrikaans: warm
• Limburgish: werm
• West Flemish: werm

• “warm”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
• Verwijs, E., Verdam, J. (1885–1929) “warm”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, →ISBN

• warme, werm, wearm

From Old English wearm.

• IPA^(key): /warm/, /wɛrm/

warm (plural and weak singular warme, comparative warmer, superlative warmest)

1. (temperature) warm, mildly hot
2. (weather) warm, pleasant, mild
3. heated, warmed
4. (locations or garments) having a tendency to be warm; designed to stay warm
5. Being at a healthy temperature
6. enthusiastic, vigourous

• Scots: wairm
• English: warm

• “warm, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 26 March 2018.

warm

1. warmness, heat

• “warm, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 26 March 2018.

From Proto-West Germanic *warm.

warm

1. warm

• warmī

• Middle High German: warm
  • Alemannic German: warm
    • Italian Walser: warm, woare, woarm, wore, wérme
  • Bavarian: borm
    • Cimbrian: barm
    • Mòcheno: bòrm
    • Udinese: borm, borbm, boarm
    • Viennese: wårm
  • Central Franconian: wärm, warm
    • Hunsrik: waarem
  • German: warm
  • Luxembourgish: waarm
  • Yiddish: וואַרעם (varem)

From Proto-West Germanic *warm (“warm”).

warm (comparative warmoro, superlative warmost)

1. warm

• Middle Low German: warm
  • Low German: warm
  • German Low German: warm