gorm

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡɔː(ɹ)m/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• Homophone: gaum (non-rhotic accents)

Etymology 1

A variant of gaum (from Middle English gome, from Old Norse gaumr; compare Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐌿𐌼𐌾𐌰𐌽 (gaumjan, “observe”)), with the ‘r’ being a vowel-lengthening device common in non-rhotic dialects of English. See gaum for more.

Alternative forms

• gawm (UK dialects)

Verb

gorm (third-person singular simple present gorms, present participle gorming, simple past and past participle gormed)

1. (UK and US, dialects) To gawk; to stare or gape.
   • 1922, Elinor Mordaunt, Laura Creichton, page 110:

     Passing through St. George's Square, Lupus Street, Chichester Street, he scarcely saw a soul; then, quite suddenly, he struck a dense crowd, kept back by the police, standing gorming at a great jagged hole in a high blank wall, a glimpse, the merest glimpse of more broken walls, shattered chimneys.

   • 1901, New Outlook, volume 67, page 408:

     "Tell Sannah to bring some coffee," said the young woman to a diminutive Kaffir boy, who stood gorming at us with round black eyes.

   • 1990, Jean Ure, Play Nimrod for him, →ISBN, page 96:

     They would stand in silence, mindlessly gorming at each other, […]

   • 2005, Lynne Truss, The Lynne Truss Treasury: Columns and Three Comic Novels, →ISBN:

     In particular, we like to emphasize that, far from wasting our childhoods (not to mention adulthoods) mindlessly gorming at The Virginian and The Avengers, we spent those couch-potato years in rigorous preparation for our chosen career.

Related terms

• goam (“see, recognize, take notice of”)
• gaum (“understand; comprehend; consider”)

Etymology 2

A variant of gaum (itself likely a variant of gum), with the ‘r’ being a vowel-lengthening device common in non-rhotic dialects of English.

Verb

gorm (third-person singular simple present gorms, present participle gorming, simple past and past participle gormed)

1. Alternative form of gaum (“to smear”)
   • 1884, Margaret Elizabeth Majendie, Out of their element, page 70:

     'It is quite ruined.'
     'How did she do it? What a pity!'
     'With paint—assisting in the painting of a garden-gate. She told me the pleasure of "gorming" it on was too irresistible to be resisted; and the poor little new gown in done for.'

   • 1909, Augusta Kortrecht, “The Widow Mary”, in Good Housekeeping, volume 48, page 182:

     "It was in a little sprinkler bottle, an' I gormed it onto my vittles good an' thick. Lordy, Lordy, an' now I got to die!"

   • For quotations using this term, see Citations:gorm.

References

• Bennett Wood Green, Word-book of Virginia Folk-speech (1912), page 202:

  Gorm, v. To smear, as with anything sticky. When a child has smeared its face with something soft and sticky, they say: "Look how you have gormed your face."

Etymology 3

From gormandize/gormandise.

Verb

gorm (third-person singular simple present gorms, present participle gorming, simple past and past participle gormed)

1. (colloquial, rare) To devour; to wolf down (food).
   • 1885, James Johonnot, Neighbors with Claws and Hoofs, and Their Kin, page 105:

     The bear came up to the berries and stopped. Not accustomed to eat out of a pail, he tipped it over, and nosed about the fruit "gorming" it down, mixed with leaves and dirt, […]

   • 1920, Outdoor Recreation: The Magazine that Brings the Outdoors In:

     […] an itinerant bruin and with naught on his hands but time and an appetite, [to] wander from ravine to ravine and gorm down this delectable fruit.

   • 1980, Michael G. Karni, Finnish Americana, page 5:

     As Luohi said later, "He gormed it. Nay, he didn't eat it. He gormed it, the pig."

Etymology 4

Supposed by some to be related to gormless and/or gorming, and by others to be related to gorm (“smear”) (itself probably related to gum (“make sticky; impair the functioning of”)).

Alternative forms

• gaum

Verb

gorm (third-person singular simple present gorms, present participle gorming, simple past and past participle gormed)

1. (dialectal, chiefly Southern US, Appalachia, New England, often with ‘up’) To make a mess of.
   • 1910, English Mechanic and World of Science, volume 91, page 273:

     I find the cheap shilling self-filling pen advertised in these pages excellent value—quite equal to that of fountain-pens I have paid ten times as much for. It is also durable. I am a careless person, and prefer to discard it when I have “gormed” it […]

   • 2008, Christine Blevins, Midwife of the Blue Ridge, →ISBN, page 133:

     "Truth is, I've gormed it all up, Alistair. When it comes t' women — nice women anyway — I'm as caw-handed and cork-brained as any pimply boy."

References

• Maine lingo: boiled owls, billdads & wazzats (1975), page 114: "A man who bungles a job has gormed it. Anybody who stumbles over his own feet is gormy."
• Smoky Mountain Voices: A Lexicon of Southern Appalachian Speech (1993, →ISBN: "gorm: If a house be in disorder it is said to be all gormed or gaumed up (B 368)."

See also

• gormed

Anagrams

• grom

Cornish

Etymology

From Proto-Brythonic *gurm, from Proto-Celtic *gurmos, cognate with Welsh gwrm (“brown, dark”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡɔrm/

Adjective

gorm

1. dark brown

Related terms

• gell (“light brown”)

Mutation

See also

Irish

Etymology

From Old Irish gorm (“blue”), from Proto-Celtic *gurmos. Cognate with Welsh gwrm (“dusky”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡɔɾˠəmˠ/
• (Kerry) IPA^(key): /ˈɡʌɾˠəmˠ/

Adjective

gorm (genitive singular masculine goirm, genitive singular feminine goirme, plural gorma, comparative goirme)

1. blue
2. black (of people, skin)
3. (heraldry) azure

Declension

Obsolete spellings

Derived terms

Mutation

See also

References

Further reading

• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977) “gorm”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN
• Quiggin, E. C. (1906) A Dialect of Donegal, Cambridge University Press, page 43

Scottish Gaelic

Etymology

From Old Irish gorm (“blue”), from Proto-Celtic *gurmos. Same root as Welsh gwrm (“dusky”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkɔrɔ̃m/

Adjective

gorm (comparative guirme)

1. blue
2. green; blue-green to verdant (natural; of plants, especially grass)

   Synonym: glas

3. green (inexperienced or naive)
4. dark gray (of animals)

Derived terms

Related terms

• gar

Mutation

See also

References

• MacBain, Alexander, Mackay, Eneas (1911) “gorm”, in An Etymological Dictionary of the Gaelic Language‎, Stirling, →ISBN