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bloom

1
[ bloom ]
/ blum /
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noun
verb (used without object)
verb (used with object)
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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 blƍm, blƍmi; cognate with Gothic blƍma “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-, bhlƍ- (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 bhlƍ- yields Latin flƍs (inflectional stem flƍr- ) “flower” and its derivatives flƍrēre “to blossom, bloom” and flƍrescere “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 phĂșllon 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 blƍma “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. 2022

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 blƍm 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 blƍma 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
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