beme

B3E1M3E1

noun

A mediaeval trumpet, usually used in hunting or warfare.

Scrabble 8

Meanings

nounbeme (plural bemes)

plural bemes

  1. historicalA mediaeval trumpet, usually used in hunting or warfare.

    Heart of lion! sound the beme! Sound it into inner lands; […]

    1789, Thomas Chatterton, William Barrett's History of Bristol, page 641
    3 more examples

    One of the long, curved horns was known as a beme and shows up as the instrument of choice blown by angels announcing the Biblical Day of Judgment.

    2008, Suzanne Lord, Music in the Middle Ages

    And when the host on both parties saw that sword drawn, then they blew bemes, trumpets, and horns, and shouted grimly, and so both hosts dressed them together.

    2014, Sir Thomas Malory, Maureen Okun, Joseph Black, Le Morte Darthur, page 302

    […] be inserted directly into each other to make the long, straight beme or trompe.

    2014, Jeremy Montagu, Horns and Trumpets of the World, page 94

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see

Origin

  1. Proto-Germanic*baumaz“tree, lumber, beam, wood”
  2. Proto-West Germanic*baumijā“wooden instrument or utensil”
  3. Old Englishbēme
  4. Middle Englishbeme
  5. Englishbeme

Borrowed from Middle English beme, from Old English bēme, bȳme, bīeme (“wooden trumpet; tablet, billet”), from Proto-West Germanic *baumijā (“wooden instrument or utensil”), from Proto-Germanic *baumaz (“tree, lumber, beam, wood”). Related to beam.

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Anagrams

Cite this entry
APA

beme. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/beme

MLA

“beme.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/beme. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “beme,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/beme.

Source: beme on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.