Meanings
plural yealms
- alternativeAlternative spelling of yelm.
Another useful implement of Mr. Williams' is his Patent Horse-rake. […] [A] ball working with the leverage of a handle keeps the teeth at their work, and is connected with the bar running underneath by a spring, and cannot lose the yealm.
1852 December 11, “The Smithfield Club Show—Agricultural Implements”, in R[ichard] A[rchibald] Brooman, editors, The Mechanics’ Magazine, Museum, Register, Journal, and Gazette, volume LVII, number 1531, London: Robertson, Brooman, and Co. […], →OCLC, page 467, column 12 more examples
After the leaves had been removed, as many turnips were thrown together as would lie upon a circle four yards in diameter: yealms of wheat-straw were made, similar to such as are used for thatching, but longer, thicker, and formed with less precision: four tall stakes were then driven into the earth, each a yard from the heap, so as to form a square, each side of which would measure six yards. Two courses of yealms were next placed on the earth, so as to enclose the quadrangle indicated by the stakes; […]
1822 April 27, John Cowley, William Staines, “L.—On Preserving Turnips, &c. during the Winter.”, in Thomas Gill, editor, The Technical Repository, Containing Practical Information on Subjects Connected with Discoveries and Improvements in the Useful Arts, volume III, London: Printed by R. Watts, for the proprietors; published by T[homas] Cadell, […], published 1823, →OCLC, page 253The carts take them [mangold or mangelwurzel] to the place for graving, and the whole is so regulated that all are kept going. The grave is usually set out about eight or nine feet in width, and the slant upwards finishes in a point at about five to six feet in height. Straw or stubble is drawn out in "haulms" or "yealms" as for thatching, and with these the grave is securely thatched and made safe by spits of earth being thrown upon the sides.
1866, “a practical farmer” [pseudonym], “The Harvesting of the Mangold Crop”, in The British Farmer’s Magazine, volume XL (New Series), number CXXI, London: Rogerson and Tuxford, […], →OCLC, page 499, column 2
present singular third person yealms · participle present yealming · participle past yealmed · past yealmed
- alternativeAlternative spelling of yelm.
MAYNARD, Robert, engineer,[…]—"Improvements in portable chaff-cutting machinery." Apparatus for straightening or "yealming" the straw, and additional means for bringing the straw forward to the knives.
1875 March 10, Office of the Commissioners of Patents, Chronological and Descriptive Index of Patents Applied for and Patents Granted, Containing the Abridgements of Provisional and Complete Specifications Delivered from March 4 to March 10, 1875, London: […] George E. Eyre and William Spottiswoode, […] [f]or Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, published 5 November 1875, →OCLC, page 1871 more example
We must now call attention to a patent yealming machine by Mr. [Robert] Maynard, and when attached to his combined chaff engine was one of the most attractive novelties in the Agricultural Hall. In using it, a man pitches the hay or straw on to an elevating endless rake, which draws up the material to the yealming apparatus which straightens it for the knife of the chaff-cutter. It is a well-known fact that unless the straw is properly yealmed by hand before it goes into the feeding box a large portion of it goes in sideways and passes out of the engine as cavings. Maynard's mechanical yealming machine does the work better and more regularly than is done by hand, so that there is a gain apart from the great saving of manual labour, consequently the general advantage is immense, because farmers see the practical benefit of the combination.
1884 January 17, “Home Farm: New and Improved Agricultural Machinery”, in Robert Hogg, editor, The Journal of Horticulture, Cottage Gardener, and Home Farmer. A Chronicle of Country Pursuits and Country Life, including Bee-keeping, volume VIII (Third Series), London: [Robert Hogg], →OCLC, page 34, column 1
Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
yealm. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/yealm
“yealm.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/yealm. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “yealm,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/yealm.
Source: yealm on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.