clum

See also: Clum and -clum

English

Alternative forms

• clumme

Etymology

From Middle English clum, clom (“silence”), perhaps for *clomen (“stiff, numb”), past participle of *cleomen (“to be stiff”); compare Middle English acleomen (“to be stiff”), related to Middle English clumsen, clomsen (“to be stiff, be numb”), Dutch kleumen (“to be stiff from cold”); or perhaps representing Old English clom, clam, clamm (“band, bond, fetter, chain, grip, grasp”). Compare also Old English clumian (“to mutter”). More at clam.

Noun

clum (plural clums)

1. (obsolete) Silence.

Interjection

clum

1. (obsolete) Silence; hush

Adjective

clum (comparative more clum, superlative most clum)

1. (obsolete) Silent; glum.

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “clum”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)

Anagrams

• Culm, MCLU, culm

Middle English

Alternative forms

• clom

Interjection

clum

1. quiet; silence; hush
   • late 14th century, Geoffrey Chaucer, The Miller's Tale, The Canterbury Tales, line 3638-3639:

     ‘Now, Pater-noster, clom!’ seyde Nicholay,
     And ‘clom,’ quod John, and ‘clom,’ seyde Alisoun.

     "Now, Pater-noster, quiet!" said Nicholay,
     And "quiet," said John, and "quiet," said Alisoun.