English edit

Pronunciation edit

Etymology 1 edit

Borrowed from Scots lum, Early Scots lumb;[1] further etymology uncertain, possibly from Old French lum (light) (compare French lumière (light; cavity or channel within a tube or tubular organ, lumen; opening)), from Latin lūmen (light; light source; opening through which light can penetrate such as an air-hole or window; opening or orifice in a water-pipe or funnel),[2][3][4] ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *lewk- (bright; to see; to shine). The word is possibly also related to Welsh llumon (chimney) (obsolete).[2]

Noun edit

lum (plural lums) (Northern England, Scotland)

  1. A chimney; also, the top part of a chimney.
    • 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:
      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; []
    • 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:
      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.
    • 1818 July 25, Jedadiah 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:
      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.
    • 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:
      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.
    • 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:
      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.
    • [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:
      "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."
    • 1933 July, Lewis Grassic Gibbon [pseudonym; James Leslie Mitchell], “Cirrus”, in Cloud Howe, London: Jarrolds Publishers [], →OCLC, page 30:
      And out they would tramp, young Ewan in bed, the night black under their feet as cold pitch, about them the whistle and moan of trees till they cleared the Manse and went up by the Mains, with the smell of the dung from its hot cattle-court, and the smell of the burning wood in its lums.
    1. (specifically, mining) A ventilating chimney over the shaft of a mine.
Alternative forms edit
Derived terms edit
Translations edit

Etymology 2 edit

Uncertain; perhaps related to Old Norse lundr (clump of trees, grove; (rare) tree) (compare Danish lund (grove), Norwegian Bokmål lund, Norwegian Nynorsk lund (grove), Swedish lund (grove)).[5]

Noun edit

lum (plural lums)

  1. (Northern England, Scotland, dialectal) A grove or wood; also, a woody valley.

Etymology 3 edit

Unknown.[6]

Noun edit

lum (plural lums)

  1. (Northern England, Scotland, dialectal) A deep pool, especially one in a riverbed.
    • 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:
      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.
Alternative forms edit

References edit

  1. ^ lum, n.1, v.1”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC, reproduced from W[illiam] Grant and D[avid] D. Murison, editors, The Scottish National Dictionary, Edinburgh: Scottish National Dictionary Association, 1931–1976, →OCLC.
  2. 2.0 2.1 lum, n.”, in OED Online  , Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, March 2022.
  3. ^ lum, n.”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present, reproduced from Collins English Dictionary, 10th edition, London: Collins, 2010, →ISBN.
  4. ^ Compare Joseph Wright, editor (1902), “LUM, sb.1”, in The English Dialect Dictionary: [], volume III (H–L), London: Henry Frowde, [], publisher to the English Dialect Society, []; New York, N.Y.: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, →OCLC, page 689, column 1.
  5. ^ Joseph Wright, editor (1902), “LUM, sb.3”, in The English Dialect Dictionary: [], volume III (H–L), London: Henry Frowde, [], publisher to the English Dialect Society, []; New York, N.Y.: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, →OCLC, page 689, column 2.
  6. ^ Compare Joseph Wright, editor (1902), “LUM, sb.2”, in The English Dialect Dictionary: [], volume III (H–L), London: Henry Frowde, [], publisher to the English Dialect Society, []; New York, N.Y.: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, →OCLC, page 689, column 2; “lumb, n.2”, in OED Online  , Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, March 2022.

Further reading edit

Anagrams edit

Albanian edit

Etymology edit

Variant of standard lumë.

Noun edit

lum m (plural lumenj, definite lumi, definite plural lumenjtë)

  1. river

Adjective edit

lum

  1. lucky

Ladin edit

Noun edit

lum f (plural lumes)

  1. (Gherdëina) light

Livonian edit

Etymology edit

From Proto-Finnic *lumi.

Noun edit

lum

  1. snow

Declension edit

Mizo edit

Etymology edit

From Proto-Kuki-Chin *lum, from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *s-l(u/i)m.

Adjective edit

lum

  1. warm

References edit

  • Grammar and Dictionary of the Lushai Language by J.H. Lorrain, Shillong 1898

Occitan edit

Etymology edit

From Old Occitan [Term?], from Latin lūmen, from Proto-Indo-European *léwksmn̥, derived from the root *lewk- (bright).

Pronunciation edit

Noun edit

lum m (plural lums)

  1. light
  2. light source, such as a lamp or bulb

See also edit

Scots edit

Etymology edit

Uncertain; perhaps compare obsolete Welsh llumon (chimney).

Noun edit

lum (plural lums)

  1. chimney

Sumerian edit

Romanization edit

lum

  1. Romanization of 𒈝 (lum)