teeming1
[tee-ming]
- abounding or swarming with something, as with people: We elbowed our way through the teeming station.
- prolific or fertile.
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Origin of teeming1
teeming2
[tee-ming]
- falling in torrents: a teeming rain.
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Origin of teeming2
teem1
[teem]
- to abound or swarm; be prolific or fertile (usually followed by with).
- Obsolete. to be or become pregnant; bring forth young.
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- Obsolete. to produce (offspring).
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Origin of teem1
before 900; Middle English temen, Old English tēman, tīeman to produce (offspring), derivative of tēam team
Synonyms
See more synonyms for teem on Thesaurus.com1. overflow, brim, overrun, bristle.
teem2
[teem]
- to empty or pour out; discharge.
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Origin of teem2
1250–1300; Middle English temen < Old Norse tæma to empty, derivative of tōmr empty, cognate with Old English tōm free from
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for teeming
Contemporary Examples
So for the 12 years he spent at Aldgate, Chaucer was mostly alone, with a teeming urban scene literally beneath his feet.
Ebola causes the body to excrete fluids that are teeming with the virus.
Remember those quaint ethnic communities, once teeming with stickball games and eggplant-shaped old women wielding rolling pins?
Weren’t Those the Bad Old Days? The Poison of New York City NostalgiaMichael Moynihan
January 6, 2014
A new study claims breast milk ordered online is teeming with bacteria.
I hated the concrete, cursed the teeming masses who looked just like me.
Historical Examples
For me she was only an incident in this teeming radiant life.
The HarborErnest Poole
They are all gone now, but then they were humming and teeming with work.
The HarborErnest Poole
She was aware for the first time of the teeming horrors of life.
A Spirit in PrisonRobert Hichens
Jeter and Eyer both understood the thoughts which were teeming in Kress' brain.
Lords of the StratosphereArthur J. Burks
Town or country, it's all the same—the air chokes me, it's teeming with moral bacilli.
Audrey CravenMay Sinclair
teem1
- (intr usually foll by with) to be prolific or abundant (in); abound (in)
- obsolete to bring forth (young)
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Word Origin
Old English tēman to produce offspring; related to West Saxon tīeman; see team
teem2
- (intr; often foll by down or with rain) to pour in torrentsit's teeming down
- (tr) to pour or empty out
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Word Origin
C15 temen to empty, from Old Norse tœma; related to Old English tōm, Old High German zuomīg empty
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 teeming
adj.
"swarming," 1715, present participle adjective from teem (v.1).
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teem
v.1
"abound, swarm," Old English teman (Mercian), tieman (West Saxon) "give birth to, produce," from Proto-Germanic *taumijanan, from PIE *deuk- "to lead" (see duke (n.)). Related to team in its now-obsolete Old English sense of "family, brood of young animals." The meaning "be fertile, abound, swarm" is first recorded 1590s. Related: Teemed; teeming.
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teem
v.2
"to flow copiously," c.1300, from Old Norse toema "to empty," from tomr "empty," cognate with Old English tom "empty." The original notion is of "to empty a vessel," thus "to pour out." Related: Teemed; teeming.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper