toom

comparative more toom · superlative most toom

1. Northern EnglandScotlanddialectalrareEmpty; bare.

   "You saw it was toom. The lamp had gone out itself, or else — what's that?"

   1896, Scribner's Magazine, volume 20

   5 more examples

   Gin she was toom afore, she's toomer now, Her heart was like to loup out at her mou'.

   1778, Alexander Ross, Fortunate Shepherdess, page 62

   Then hie to the Custom House, add to your pleasures, Now you're well cover'd, so toom the new measures: It ne'er will be finish'd, I'll wager a groat, Till they've cut a canal te admit five-men boats!

   1825, The Tyneside Songster

   She set down the bowl and breathed over it, "Be never toom." The woman lived to a great age, but never saw the bottom of the bowl.

   1828, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, volume II, London: William Harrison Ainsworth, page 163

   Every time Gavin's cup went to his lips Nanny calculated (correctly) how much he had drunk, and yet, when the right moment arrived, she asked in the English voice that is fashionable at ceremonies, "if his cup was toom."

   1895, James Matthew Barrie, The Little Minister, page 135

   It seemed to him that his soul had gone from him, and he was as toom as a hazel shell.

   1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide

   Synonyms: vacant, void, empty, empty as a pauper's purse, empty as the tomb on Easter, clean, leer, unfilled

plural tooms

1. ScottishA piece of waste ground where rubbish is deposited.

present singular third person tooms · participle present tooming · participle past toomed · past toomed

1. dialectalrareTo empty; teem.

plural tooms

1. uncountableusuallyVacant time, leisure.

   He had exhausted Bath, but his connections and introductions made the transition easy. There was toom for two in the capital.

   1978, Art and Artists