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

Words Nearby loom

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. 2024

How to use loom in a sentence

  • It was in full sight from the door of the little shanty in which Aunt Ri's carpet-loom stood.

    Ramona | Helen Hunt Jackson
  • From above, through the ceiling, came the vibration of some machine at work, and the machine might have been the loom of time.

    Hilda Lessways | Arnold Bennett
  • The labour of the spade and of the loom, and the petty gains of trade, he contemptuously abandoned to men of a lower caste.

  • No well-wisher of India, no patriot dare look upon the impending destruction of the hand-loom weaver with equanimity.

  • I will lie down and round me wrap The cool, black curtains of the gloom That night hath woven in her loom.

    Charles Baudelaire, His Life | Thophile Gautier

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