Dictionary.com

bloom

1
[ bloom ]
/ blum /
Save This Word!

noun
verb (used without object)
verb (used with object)
QUIZ
CAN YOU ANSWER THESE COMMON GRAMMAR DEBATES?
There are grammar debates that never die; and the ones highlighted in the questions in this quiz are sure to rile everyone up once again. Do you know how to answer the questions that cause some of the greatest grammar debates?
Question 1 of 7
Which sentence is correct?

Idioms about bloom

    take the bloom off, to remove the enjoyment or ultimate satisfaction from; dampen the enthusiasm over: The coach's illness took the bloom off the team's victory.
    the bloom is off (the rose), the excitement, enjoyment, interest, etc., has ended or been dampened.

Origin of bloom

1
First recorded in 1150–1200; Middle English noun blom, blome, from Old Norse blōm, blōmi; cognate with Gothic blōma “lily,” German Blume “flower”; akin to blow3; verb derivative of the noun

historical usage of bloom

Bloom “flower” comes from the Proto-Indo-European root bhel-, bhol-, bhlē-, bhlō- (with still other variants) “to bloom, thrive.” Initial Proto-Indo-European bh- usually becomes b- in the Germanic languages, f- in the ancient Italic languages (Latin, Oscan, Umbrian), and ph- in Greek. Therefore the root variant bhlō- yields Latin flōs (inflectional stem flōr- ) “flower” and its derivatives flōrēre “to blossom, bloom” and flōrescere “to come into bloom,” from which English derives florescence and florescent. Flower and flour, which English borrowed from Old French, were originally only spelling variants. The root variant bhol- yields folium in Latin and phúllon in Greek, both meaning “leaf.”

OTHER WORDS FROM bloom

bloomless, adjective

Other definitions for bloom (2 of 3)

bloom2
[ bloom ]
/ blum /
Metalworking.

noun
a piece of steel, square or slightly oblong in section, reduced from an ingot to dimensions suitable for further rolling.
a large lump of iron and slag, of pasty consistency when hot, produced in a puddling furnace or bloomery and hammered into wrought iron.
verb (used with object)
to make (an ingot) into a bloom.

Origin of bloom

2
First recorded before 1000; from Middle English blome “squared mass of metal of aproximately standard weight,” Old English blōma “mass of iron”; perhaps akin to bloom1

Other definitions for bloom (3 of 3)

Bloom
[ bloom ]
/ blum /

noun
Harold, 1930–2019, U.S. literary critic and teacher.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use bloom in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for bloom (1 of 2)

bloom1
/ (bluːm) /

noun
verb (mainly intr)

Word Origin for bloom

C13: of Germanic origin; compare Old Norse blōm flower, Old High German bluomo, Middle Dutch bloeme; see blow ³

British Dictionary definitions for bloom (2 of 2)

bloom2
/ (bluːm) /

noun
a rectangular mass of metal obtained by rolling or forging a cast ingotSee also billet 1 (def. 2)
verb
(tr) to convert (an ingot) into a bloom by rolling or forging

Word Origin for bloom

Old English blōma lump of metal
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
FEEDBACK