teeming

[tee-ming]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR teeming ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective

abounding or swarming with something, as with people: We elbowed our way through the teeming station.

prolific or fertile.

Origin of teeming

First recorded in 1525–35; teem¹ + -ing²

Related formsteem·ing·ly, adverbteem·ing·ness, noun

teeming

[tee-ming]

adjective

falling in torrents: a teeming rain.

Origin of teeming

First recorded in 1685–95; teem² + -ing²

teem

[teem]

verb (used without object)

to abound or swarm; be prolific or fertile (usually followed by with).

Obsolete. to be or become pregnant; bring forth young.

verb (used with object)

Obsolete. to produce (offspring).

Origin of teem

before 900; Middle English temen, Old English tēman, tīeman to produce (offspring), derivative of tēam team

Related formsteem·er, noun

Synonyms for teem

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR teem ON THESAURUS.COM

1. overflow, brim, overrun, bristle.

teem

[teem]

verb (used with or without object)

to empty or pour out; discharge.

Origin of teem

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. 2019

Related Words for teeming

filled, brimming, packed, overflowing, crawling, replete, crammed, bristling, alive, chock-full, fruitful, multitudinous, numerous, plentiful, populous, pregnant, rife, thick, brimful

Examples from the Web for teeming

Contemporary Examples of teeming

So for the 12 years he spent at Aldgate, Chaucer was mostly alone, with a teeming urban scene literally beneath his feet.
A Year In The Life of The Canterbury Tales’ Storied Beginnings
Wendy Smith
December 25, 2014
Ebola causes the body to excrete fluids that are teeming with the virus.
New York Nurses Are the Calm in Ebola’s Storm
Abby Haglage
October 21, 2014
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 Nostalgia
Michael Moynihan
January 6, 2014
A new study claims breast milk ordered online is teeming with bacteria.
Buy That Breast Milk!
Kent Sepkowitz
October 22, 2013
I hated the concrete, cursed the teeming masses who looked just like me.
I Can’t Shake Hawaii: An Ode to Returning to Places You’ve Been Before
Debra A. Klein
October 7, 2013

Historical Examples of teeming

For me she was only an incident in this teeming radiant life.
The Harbor
Ernest Poole
They are all gone now, but then they were humming and teeming with work.
The Harbor
Ernest Poole
She was aware for the first time of the teeming horrors of life.
A Spirit in Prison
Robert Hichens
Jeter and Eyer both understood the thoughts which were teeming in Kress' brain.
Lords of the Stratosphere
Arthur J. Burks
Town or country, it's all the same—the air chokes me, it's teeming with moral bacilli.
Audrey Craven
May Sinclair

British Dictionary definitions for teeming

teem

verb

(intr usually foll by with) to be prolific or abundant (in); abound (in)

obsolete to bring forth (young)

Word Origin for teem

Old English tēman to produce offspring; related to West Saxon tīeman; see team

teem

verb

(intr; often foll by down or with rain) to pour in torrentsit's teeming down

(tr) to pour or empty out

Derived Formsteemer, noun

Word Origin for teem

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).

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.

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.