Skip to content

brim

noun

  1. part of a hat that extends out from the crown and shades the head
  2. rim or lip of container
L16176 on Wikidata ↗

verb

  1. be completely full
L16177 on Wikidata ↗

Wiktionary

Pronunciation: /bɹɪm/

adj

Etymology: A variant of breme.

  1. Synonym of breme (“of the sea, wind, etc.: fierce; raging; stormy, tempestuous”).

name

Etymology: As an English surname, spelling variant of Bream. As a Jewish surname, acronymically from Hebrew בן רבי (bén rabí, “son of Rabbi…”) followed by a Yiddish personal name. Compare Brill.

  1. A surname.
  2. A locality in the Shire of Yarriambiack, north western Victoria, Australia.

noun

Etymology: Clipping of brimstone (“sulphur; (figurative) a domineering, scolding woman”).

  1. An irascible, violent woman.

    Can mortal ſcoundrels thee perplex, / And the great brim of brimſtones vex?

    She rav'd, ſhe abus'd me, as ſplenetic mad; / She's a vixen, a brim; zounds! ſhe's all that is bad.

verb

Etymology: The verb is derived from Middle English brimmen (“of pigs: to be in heat or rut; to breed; to bear fruit”), either: * modified from brem, breme (“of animals: ferocious, savage; of fire, the sea, a storm, etc.: raging, severe, tempestuous; glorious, splendid; etc.”, adjective) (whence modern English breme (“(obsolete) fierce, stormy, tempestuous”)), from Old English brēme (“(poetic) glorious; famous, renowned”), from Proto-West Germanic *brōmi, from Proto-Germanic *brōmiz (“famous”); or * directly from Old English bremman (“to rage; to roar”) (though not attested in Middle English), from Proto-Germanic *bramjaną, *bremaną (“to roar”); both from Proto-Indo-European *bʰrem- (“to make noise”). The noun is derived from Middle English brim, from the verb: see above.

  1. Of a boar (“male pig”): to mate with (a sow (“female pig”)); to rut.

    Svvine alone of all creatures vvhen they be brimming, froth and fome at the mouth. And as for the Bore, if he heare the grunting of a Sovv that ſeekes to be brimmed, unleſſe he may come to her, vvill forſake his meat, untill he be leane and poore: and ſhe againe vvill be ſo farre enraged, that ſhe vvill be readie to run upon a man and all to teare him, eſpecially if his cloths be vvhite.

    Nay, a Country Farmer vvon't ſuffer any Bull to leap a young Covv; nor every Horſe his Mare, nor every Boar to brim his Sovv; tho a Bullock is deſign'd for the Plough, a Horſe for the Cart, and a Svvine for the Kitchen. See novv hovv perverſe the Judgments of Mankind are.

  2. Of a sow: to be in heat; to rut; also, to mate with a boar.