To come into view as a massive, distorted, or indistinct image: "I faced the icons that loomed through the veil of incense"(Fergus M. Bordewich). See Synonyms at appear.
To appear to the mind in a magnified and threatening form: "Stalin looms over the whole human tragedy of 1930-1933"(Robert Conquest).
To seem imminent; impend: Revolution loomed but the aristocrats paid no heed.
n.
A distorted, threatening appearance of something, as through fog or darkness.
O.E. geloma "utensil, tool," from ge- perfective prefix + -loma, of unknown origin. Originally "implement or tool of any kind" (cf. heirloom); thus, "the penis" (c.1400-1600). Meaning "a machine in thich yarn or thread is woven into fabric" is from 1404.
1542, perhaps from a Scand. source (cf. dial. Swed. loma, E.Fris. lomen "move slowly"), perhaps a variant from the root of lame (adj.); first used of ships.
Heir"loom`\, n. [Heir + loom, in its earlier sense of implement, tool. See Loom the frame.] Any furniture, movable, or personal chattel, which by law or special custom descends to the heir along with the inheritance; any piece of personal property that has been in a family for several generations. Woe to him whose daring hand profanes The honored heirlooms of his ancestors. --Moir.
Loom\, n. [OE. lome, AS. gel?ma utensil, implement.]1. A frame or machine of wood or other material, in which a weaver forms cloth out of thread; a machine for interweaving yarn or threads into a fabric, as in knitting or lace making. Hector, when he sees Andromache overwhelmed with terror, sends her for consolation to the loom and the distaff. --Rambler. 2. (Naut.) That part of an oar which is near the grip or handle and inboard from the rowlock. --Totten.
Loom\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Loomed; p. pr. & vb. n. Looming.] [OE. lumen to shine, Icel. ljoma; akin to AS. le['o]ma light, and E. light; or cf. OF. lumer to shine, L. luminare to illumine, lumen light; akin to E. light. ? See Light not dark.]1. To appear above the surface either of sea or land, or to appear enlarged, or distorted and indistinct, as a distant object, a ship at sea, or a mountain, esp. from atmospheric influences; as, the ship looms large; the land looms high. Awful she looms, the terror of the main. --H. J. Pye. 2. To rise and to be eminent; to be elevated or ennobled, in a moral sense. On no occasion does he [Paul] loom so high, and shine so gloriously, as in the context. --J. M. Mason.