coom

or coomb

[ koom ]

/ kum /

noun Chiefly Scot. and North England.

soot; coal dust; smut.

dust, especially sawdust or dust from a gristmill.

grease from bearings, axles, etc.

Nearby words

cooling tower, cooling-off period, coolly, coolth, cooly, coom, coomaraswamy, coomb, coombs' serum, coon, coon cat

Origin of coom

First recorded in 1580–90; variant of culm¹

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for coom

I seed 'un, Jim; a great, fine fox 'e were, a slinkin' off jest afore we coom up.
Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 104, January 28, 1893|Various
Plaize your honour, your honour's groom have not been here all day a'most; and if her coom'th, us 'ont keep un.
The Maid of Sker|Richard Doddridge Blackmore
As sooin as he coom near th' coit he could hear him snoaring away ommost as laad as a trombone.
Yorksher Puddin'|John Hartley
He worn't aboon a minnit or two away, but when he coom back what should he see but owd Labon within a few steps o'th' top.
Yorksher Puddin'|John Hartley

We was all expectin' a bit of a do, thou knows—an' thou's never so much as coom nigh th' place.
North, South and Over the Sea|M.E. Francis (Mrs. Francis Blundell)

British Dictionary definitions for coom

coom

coomb

/ (kuːm) /

noun

dialect, mainly Scot and Northern English waste material, such as dust from coal, grease from axles, etc

Word Origin for coom

C16 (meaning: soot): probably a variant of culm 1

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