lum

plural lums · alternative lumb

1. Northern EnglandScotlandA chimney; also, the top part of a chimney.

   Sae, I wad not trust mysell with another look at poor Woodend, for the very blue reek that came out of the lum-head pat me in mind of the change of market-days with us.

   1818 July 25, Jedediah Cleishbotham [pseudonym; Walter Scott], chapter II, in Tales of My Landlord, Second Series, […] (The Heart of Mid-Lothian), volume III, Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Company, →OCLC, page 32

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   Now, by this time, the ſun begins to leam, / An' litt the hill-heads, wi' his morning beam, / An' birds, and beaſts, and fouk to be aſteer, / And ſtreams o' reek frae lumb heads to appear; […]

   1768, Alexander Ross, “Canto I”, in The Fortunate Shepherdess, a Pastoral Tale; in Three Cantos, in the Scotish Dialect. […], Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire: […] Francis Douglas, →OCLC, page 50

   He bleez'd ovvre her, an' ſhe ovvre him, / As they vvad never mair part, / Till, fuff! he ſtarted up the lum, / An' Jean had e'en a ſair heart / To ſee't that night.

   1785 (date written), Robert Burns, “Halloween”, in Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect. […], 2nd edition, volume I, Edinburgh: […] T[homas] Cadell, […], and William Creech, […], published 1793, →OCLC, stanza VIII, page 178

   Down the broad lum / Came melting flakes that hiss'd upon the coal; / Under my eyelids blew the blinding smoke, / And for a time I sat like one bewitch'd, / Still as a stone.

   1865 March, [Robert Williams Buchanan], “Willie Baird: A Winter Idyll”, in The Cornhill Magazine, volume XI, number 63, London: Smith, Elder & Co., […], →OCLC, page 361

   Two "lums" on the ridge served the double purpose of letting out the smoke and in the light. […] A new peat fire had been put on, and the day being calm, the lazy smoke seemed more inclined to remain inside than to go out the lums, as it ought to have done.

   1877, G. S. L. [pseudonym; George Sinclair of Leith], chapter VI, in Shetland Fireside Tales; or, The Hermit of Trosswickness, Edinburgh: Edinburgh Publishing Company; London: Simpkin, Marshall, & Co., →OCLC, page 41

   "I heard a boy there speak of soot. Where is soot to be had?" / "Up lums, said Weepie, laughing. / […] / "But why not let it stay in the lums?" / "'Cause it wad come doon and splairge the parritch and the broth, and maybe set the lum on fire."

   [1880], [George Jacque], “Weepie with Other Boys Fulfil Their Appointment”, in The Sweep’s Apprentice. […], Edinburgh: Religious Book and Tract Society of Scotland, […], →OCLC, page 18

   1. Northern EnglandScotlandspecificallybusinessA ventilating chimney over the shaft of a mine.

plural lums

1. Northern EnglandScotlanddialectalA grove or wood; also, a woody valley.

plural lums · alternative lumb

1. Northern EnglandScotlanddialectalA deep pool, especially one in a riverbed.

   The Kettle Wells are two lums, situated in Bonson's Wood, near Stanmore, which are not surpassed for Elysian beauty. The fall of the water into the first well is inconsiderable; but that continually empties itself into the lum below, over a smooth precipice of thirty feet.

   1830 September 4, W. H. H., “The ‘Lums’ of Westmoreland”, in The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction, volume XVI, number 449, London: […] J[ohn] Limbird, […], →OCLC, page 188, column 2

plural Lums

1. An English surname transferred from the place name.

   Alternative forms: Limb, Lumb, Lumm

2. A surname from Chinese.

plural Lums

1. A diminutive of the male given name Columbus.