glaum
To grasp or snatch, usually feebly or ineffectuallyTo grasp or snatch (at), usually feebly or ineffectually; to grope (at) with the hands, as in the dark.
Meaning
4 senses(Ireland, Scotland)To grasp or snatch (at), usually feebly or ineffectually; to grope (at) with the hands, as in the dark.
(dialectal)To search (for something).
(Northern England, Scotland)To look sullen or sad; scowl, frown.
To look (at), to stare (at).
Origin
Alteration of dialectal clam, claum (“to grope or grasp ineffectually, snatch”), from MiddAlteration of dialectal clam, claum (“to grope or grasp ineffectually, snatch”), from Middle English *clammen, *clemmen, from Old English clæmman, clemman, from Proto-West Germanic *klammjan, from Proto-Germanic *klamjaną. In some senses, likely influenced by clamber. Compare dialectal glaump, glamp (“to grasp, snatch at, clutch, grope", also "gulp”), Scots clam, claum (“to grope or grasp ineffectually, snatch”), Norwegian klemme (“to seize with claws”), Middle High German klemmen (“to squeeze”). Doublet of glom. Related also to English clamp.
From Middle English gloumen, glomen (“to look glum or sullen, scowl, frown at, lower”), from Old Norse glám- (in compounds), cognate with Norwegian Nynorsk glåma (“to stare”).
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Forms
glaums, glauming, glaumed, glaumedSynonyms
4 synonymsLessons for this word
3 lessons- A1Present simple — Because it is a verb
- A1Past simple, regular verbs — Because of its past form
- A2Present perfect: introduction — Because of its past participle