loom

1
[ loom ]
See synonyms for loom on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. a hand-operated or power-driven apparatus for weaving fabrics, containing harnesses, lay, reed, shuttles, treadles, etc.

  2. the art or the process of weaving.

  1. the part of an oar between the blade and the handle.

verb (used with object)
  1. to weave (something) on a loom.

Origin of loom

1
First recorded before 900; Middle English lome, lombe, lume “tool, implement, loom,” Old English lōma, gelōma; further origin uncertain

Other definitions for loom (2 of 4)

loom2
[ loom ]

verb (used without object)
  1. to appear indistinctly; come into view in indistinct and enlarged form: The mountainous island loomed on the horizon.

  2. to rise before the vision with an appearance of great or portentous size: Suddenly a police officer loomed in front of him.

  1. to assume form as an impending event: A battle looms at the convention.

noun
  1. a looming appearance, as of something seen indistinctly at a distance or through a fog: the loom of a moraine directly in their path.

Origin of loom

2
First recorded in 1590–1600; origin uncertain; perhaps akin to East Frisian lomen, Swedish lome “move slowly”

Other words for loom

Other definitions for loom (3 of 4)

loom3
[ loom ]

nounBritish Dialect.
  1. a guillemot or murre.

Origin of loom

3
First recorded in 1670–80; from Old Norse lōmr “loon”

Other definitions for L.O.O.M. (4 of 4)

L.O.O.M.

abbreviation
  1. Loyal Order of Moose.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use loom in a sentence

  • He loomed like a god above us, as much a presence as any deity, and God knows he was accepted as such.

    How I Learned to Hate Robert E. Lee | Christopher Dickey | June 22, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
  • This is better than the Cold War when nuclear war loomed, but it is still sinister.

  • Neither of us spoke again, and at length the squat log buildings of Pend d' Oreille loomed ahead of us in the night.

    Raw Gold | Bertrand W. Sinclair
  • There was another personality that loomed large, in those years, on the Midland—Samuel Swarbrick, the accountant.

  • They were soon out-distanced, the palm-trees fell away, the soaring temple loomed against the blazing sky.

    The Wave | Algernon Blackwood
  • The one thing that loomed big in my mind's eye was the monstrous injustice of the accusation.

    Raw Gold | Bertrand W. Sinclair
  • A horse or a tree or a clump of brush loomed up grotesquely in the vaporous blur.

    Raw Gold | Bertrand W. Sinclair

British Dictionary definitions for loom (1 of 3)

loom1

/ (luːm) /


noun
  1. an apparatus, worked by hand (hand loom) or mechanically (power loom), for weaving yarn into a textile

  2. the middle portion of an oar, which acts as a fulcrum swivelling in the rowlock

Origin of loom

1
C13 (meaning any kind of tool): variant of Old English gelōma tool; compare heirloom

British Dictionary definitions for loom (2 of 3)

loom2

/ (luːm) /


verb(intr)
  1. to come into view indistinctly with an enlarged and often threatening aspect

  2. (of an event) to seem ominously close

  1. (often foll by over) (of large objects) to dominate or overhang

noun
  1. a rising appearance, as of something far away

Origin of loom

2
C16: perhaps from East Frisian lomen to move slowly

British Dictionary definitions for loom (3 of 3)

loom3

/ (luːm) /


nounarchaic, or dialect
  1. another name for diver (def. 3)

  2. any of various other birds, esp the guillemot

Origin of loom

3
C17: from Old Norse lomr

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