Etymology

glaum

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Today it means: To grasp or snatch (at), usually feebly or ineffectually; to grope (at) with the hands, as in the dark. Full definition →

Middle English *clammen ← Old English clæmman ← Proto-West Germanic *klammjan
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glaum · verb1

  1. Proto-Germanic · inherited from*klamjaną
  2. Proto-West Germanic · inherited from*klammjan
  3. Old English · inherited fromclæmman
  4. Middle English · inherited from*clammen
  5. English todayglaum

Alteration 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.

glaum · verb2

  1. Old Norse · derived fromglám-
  2. Middle English · inherited fromgloumen
  3. English todayglaum

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”).

Words from the same roots

Middle English*clammen all →

glom

Old Englishclæmman all →

clamberglom

Proto-West Germanic*klammjan all →

glom

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.