tame
EnglishEdit
PronunciationEdit
Etymology 1Edit
From Middle English tame, tome, weak inflection forms of Middle English tam, tom, from Old English tam, tom (“domesticated, tame”), from Proto-West Germanic *tam (“tame”), from Proto-Germanic *tamaz (“brought into the home, tame”), from Proto-Indo-European *demh₂- (“to tame, dominate”). Cognate with Scots tam, tame (“tame”), Saterland Frisian tom (“tame”), West Frisian tam (“tame”), Dutch tam (“tame”), Low German Low German tamm, tahm (“tame”), German zahm (“tame”), Swedish tam (“tame”), Icelandic tamur (“tame”).
The verb is from Middle English tamen, temen, temien, from Old English temian (“to tame”), from Proto-West Germanic *tammjan, from Proto-Germanic *tamjaną (“to tame”).
AdjectiveEdit
tame (comparative tamer, superlative tamest)
- Not or no longer wild; domesticated.
- Antonym: wild
- They have a tame wildcat.
- (chiefly of animals) Mild and well-behaved; accustomed to human contact.
- Synonym: gentle
- The lion was quite tame.
- (figuratively) Of a person, well-behaved; not radical or extreme.
- 1913, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Poison Belt[1]:
- What, for example, were Fraunhofer's lines? McArdle had just been studying the matter with the aid of our tame scientist at the office, and he picked from his desk two of those many-coloured spectral bands which bear a general resemblance to the hat-ribbons of some young and ambitious cricket club.
- Not exciting.
- Synonyms: dull, flat, insipid, unexciting
- Antonym: exciting
- This party is too tame for me.
- For a thriller, that film was really tame.
- 2015 February 15, “Tobacco”, in Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, season 2, episode 2, HBO:
- Wow! So the implication there is that even 12-year-olds in France will find the movie tame. “Yes, eet was a, an amusing erotic trifle, I supposa. Ze love-making was passable, but, uh, belt play is a leettle pedestriahn, don’t you seenk?”.
- Crushed; subdued; depressed; spiritless.
- a. 1685, Wentworth Dillon, 4th Earl of Roscommon, Paraphrase on the 148th Psalm
- tame slaves of the laborious plough
- a. 1685, Wentworth Dillon, 4th Earl of Roscommon, Paraphrase on the 148th Psalm
- (mathematics, of a knot) Capable of being represented as a finite closed polygonal chain.
- Antonym: wild
QuotationsEdit
- For quotations using this term, see Citations:tame.
Derived termsEdit
TranslationsEdit
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VerbEdit
tame (third-person singular simple present tames, present participle taming, simple past and past participle tamed)
- (transitive) To make (an animal) tame; to domesticate.
- He tamed the wild horse.
- (intransitive) To become tame or domesticated.
- 2006, Gayle Soucek, Doves (page 78)
- Tambourines are shy birds and do not tame easily.
- 2006, Gayle Soucek, Doves (page 78)
- (transitive) To make gentle or meek.
- to tame a rebellion
Derived termsEdit
TranslationsEdit
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Further readingEdit
Etymology 2Edit
From Middle English tamen (“to cut into, broach”). Compare French entamer.
VerbEdit
tame (third-person singular simple present tames, present participle taming, simple past and past participle tamed)
- (obsolete, Britain, dialect) To broach or enter upon; to taste, as a liquor; to divide; to distribute; to deal out.
- 1642, Thomas Fuller, The Holy State and the Profane State
- In the time of famine he is the Joseph of the country, and keeps the poor from starving. Then he tameth his stacks of corn, which not his covetousness, but providence, hath reserved for time of need.
- 1642, Thomas Fuller, The Holy State and the Profane State
AnagramsEdit
Inari SamiEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Proto-Samic *δëmē.
NounEdit
taṃe
InflectionEdit
Even e-stem, ṃ-m gradation | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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Nominative | taṃe | |||||||||||||||||||||
Genitive | tame | |||||||||||||||||||||
Singular | Plural | |||||||||||||||||||||
Nominative | taṃe | tameh | ||||||||||||||||||||
Accusative | tame | toomijd | ||||||||||||||||||||
Genitive | tame | tomij toomij | ||||||||||||||||||||
Illative | taṃan | toomijd | ||||||||||||||||||||
Locative | taameest | toomijn | ||||||||||||||||||||
Comitative | toomijn | tomijguin | ||||||||||||||||||||
Abessive | tamettáá | tomijttáá | ||||||||||||||||||||
Essive | tammeen | |||||||||||||||||||||
Partitive | tammeed | |||||||||||||||||||||
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Further readingEdit
- Koponen, Eino; Ruppel, Klaas; Aapala, Kirsti, editors (2002-2008) Álgu database: Etymological database of the Saami languages[2], Helsinki: Research Institute for the Languages of Finland
JapaneseEdit
RomanizationEdit
tame
Middle EnglishEdit
Etymology 1Edit
From Old English tam, tom, from Proto-Germanic *tamaz (“tame”).
AdjectiveEdit
tame
- (of animals) tame, domesticated
- (of plants) cultivated, domesticated
- overcome, subdued
- (of people) meek, compliant
- (anatomy, medicine, of a fistula) inner, interior
Alternative formsEdit
DescendantsEdit
ReferencesEdit
- “tāme, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
Etymology 2Edit
VerbEdit
tame (third-person singular simple present tameth, present participle tamynge, first-/third-person singular past indicative and past participle tamed)
- Alternative form of tamen (“to cut, carve”)
Etymology 3Edit
NounEdit
tame (uncountable)
- (Northern) Alternative form of tome (“freetime”)
Norwegian NynorskEdit
AdjectiveEdit
tame
SwedishEdit
AdjectiveEdit
tame
- absolute definite natural masculine form of tam.