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bloom1

[bloom]
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noun
  1. the flower of a plant.
  2. flowers collectively: the bloom of the cherry tree.
  3. state of having the buds opened: The gardens are all in bloom.
  4. a flourishing, healthy condition; the time or period of greatest beauty, artistry, etc.: the bloom of youth; the bloom of Romanticism.
  5. a glow or flush on the cheek indicative of youth and health: a serious illness that destroyed her bloom.
  6. the glossy, healthy appearance of the coat of an animal.
  7. a moist, lustrous appearance indicating freshness in fish.
  8. redness or a fresh appearance on the surface of meat.
  9. Botany. a whitish powdery deposit or coating, as on the surface of certain fruits and leaves: the bloom of the grape.
  10. any similar surface coating or appearance: the bloom of newly minted coins.
  11. any of certain minerals occurring as powdery coatings on rocks or other minerals.
  12. Also called chill. a clouded or dull area on a varnished or lacquered surface.
  13. Also called algal bloom, water bloom. the sudden development of conspicuous masses of organisms, as algae, on the surface of a body of water.
  14. Television. image spread produced by excessive exposure of highlights in a television image.
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verb (used without object)
  1. to produce or yield blossoms.
  2. to flourish or thrive: a recurrent fad that blooms from time to time.
  3. to be in or achieve a state of healthful beauty and vigor: a sickly child who suddenly bloomed; a small talent that somehow bloomed into major artistry.
  4. to glow with warmth or with a warm color.
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verb (used with object)
  1. to cause to yield blossoms.
  2. to make bloom or cause to flourish: a happiness that blooms the cheek.
  3. to invest with luster or beauty: an industry that blooms one's talents.
  4. to cause a cloudy area on (something shiny); dampen; chill: Their breath bloomed the frosty pane.
  5. Optics. to coat (a lens) with an antireflection material.
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Idioms
  1. 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.
  2. the bloom is off (the rose), the excitement, enjoyment, interest, etc., has ended or been dampened.
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Origin of bloom1

1150–1200; (noun) Middle English blom, blome < Old Norse blōm, blōmi; cognate with Gothic blōma lily, German Blume flower; akin to blow3; (v.) Middle English blomen, derivative of the noun
Related formsbloom·less, adjective

Synonyms

See more synonyms for bloom on Thesaurus.com
1. blossom. 3. efflorescence. 4. freshness, glow, flush; vigor, prime. 15, 16. effloresce.

bloom2

[bloom]Metalworking.
noun
  1. a piece of steel, square or slightly oblong in section, reduced from an ingot to dimensions suitable for further rolling.
  2. a large lump of iron and slag, of pasty consistency when hot, produced in a puddling furnace or bloomery and hammered into wrought iron.
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verb (used with object)
  1. to make (an ingot) into a bloom.
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Origin of bloom2

before 1000; representing Anglo-Latin, Anglo-French blomes (plural), Old English blōma mass of iron; perhaps akin to bloom1

Bloom

[bloom]
noun
  1. Harold,born 1930, U.S. literary critic and teacher.
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Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

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British Dictionary definitions for bloom

bloom1

noun
  1. a blossom on a flowering plant; a flower
  2. the state, time, or period when flowers open (esp in the phrases in bloom, in full bloom)
  3. open flowers collectivelya tree covered with bloom
  4. a healthy, vigorous, or flourishing condition; prime (esp in the phrase the bloom of youth)
  5. youthful or healthy rosiness in the cheeks or face; glow
  6. a fine whitish coating on the surface of fruits, leaves, etc, consisting of minute grains of a waxy substance
  7. any coating similar in appearance, such as that on new coins
  8. ecology a visible increase in the algal constituent of plankton, which may be seasonal or due to excessive organic pollution
  9. Also called: chill a dull area formed on the surface of gloss paint, lacquer, or varnish
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verb (mainly intr)
  1. (of flowers) to open; come into flower
  2. to bear flowers; blossom
  3. to flourish or grow
  4. to be in a healthy, glowing, or flourishing condition
  5. (tr) physics to coat (a lens) with a thin layer of a substance, often magnesium fluoride, to eliminate surface reflection
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Word Origin

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

bloom2

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

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

Word Origin and History for bloom

n.1

"blossom of a plant," c.1200, a northern word, from a Scandinavian source akin to Old Norse blomi "flower, blossom," also collectively "flowers and foliage on trees;" from Proto-Germanic *blomon (cf. Old Saxon blomo, Middle Dutch bloeme, Dutch bloem, Old High German bluomo, German Blume, Gothic bloma), from PIE *bhle- (cf. Old Irish blath "blossom, flower," Latin flos "flower," florere "to blossom, flourish"), extended form of *bhel- (2) "to blow, inflate, swell" (see bole). Related to Old English blowan "to flower" (see blow (v.2)).

Transferred sense, of persons, is from c.1300; meaning "state of greatest loveliness" is from early 14c.; that of "blush on the cheeks" is from 1752. Old English had cognate bloma, but only in the figurative sense of "state of greatest beauty;" the main word in Old English for "flower" was blostm (see blossom).

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n.2

"rough mass of wrought iron," from Old English bloma "lump of metal; mass," of unknown origin. Identical in form to bloom (n.1), and sometimes regarded as a secondary sense of it, but evidence of a connection is wanting.

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v.

mid-13c., blomen, from the noun (see bloom (n.1)). Related: Bloomed; blooming.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper