warm
Pronunciation
  • (RP) IPA: /wɔːm/
  • (America) IPA: /wɔɹm/
Etymology 1

From Middle English warm, werm, from Old English wearm, from Proto-West Germanic *warm, from Proto-Germanic *warmaz, with different proposed origins:

  1. Proto-Indo-European *gʷʰer-, related to Ancient Greek θερμός, Latin formus, Sanskrit घर्म.
  2. Proto-Indo-European *wer-, related to and to Church Slavic варити.

    The dispute is due to differing opinions on how initial Proto-Indo-European *gʷʰ- evolved in Germanic: some think that *gʷʰ would have turned to *b, and that the root *gʷʰer- would instead have given rise to burn etc. Some have also proposed a merger of the two roots.

Adjective

warm (comparative warmer, superlative warmest)

  1. Of a somewhat high temperature.
    The tea is still warm.
    This is a very warm room.
    • 1863, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, The Herons of Elmwood:
      Warm and still is the summer night.
  2. Friendly and with affection.
    We have a warm friendship.
  3. Having a color in the part of the visible electromagnetic spectrum between red and yellow-green.
  4. (informal) Close to a goal or correct answer.
    • 1876, William Black, “An Encounter”, in Madcap Violet. […], volume III, London: Macmillan and Co., →OCLC ↗, page 74 ↗:
      That was a further clue; and here, indeed, young Mr. Dowse was getting "warm," as children say at blind-man's-buff, although, as a matter-of-fact, she had now been talking of George Miller at all.
  5. Fresh, of a scent; still able to be traced.
  6. (figurative) Communicating a sense of comfort, ease, or pleasantness.
    a warm piano sound
  7. (archaic) Ardent, zealous.
    a warm debate, with strong words exchanged
    • 1646 (indicated as 1645), John Milton, “Song on May Morning”, in Poems of Mr. John Milton, […], London: […] Ruth Raworth for Humphrey Mosely, […], →OCLC ↗:
      Mirth, and youth, and warm desire!
    • 1712 September 22 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison; Richard Steele et al.], “THURSDAY, September 11, 1712”, in The Spectator, number 481; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume V, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC ↗:
      They say he's a warm man and does not care to be made mouths at.
      The spelling has been modernized.
    • 1717, Alexander Pope, “Eloisa to Abelard”, in The Works of Mr. Alexander Pope, volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: […] W[illiam] Bowyer, for Bernard Lintot, […], published 1717, →OCLC ↗:
    • 1776, Edward Gibbon, chapter I, in The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: […] W[illiam] Strahan; and T[homas] Cadell, […], →OCLC ↗:
      To the strength and fierceness of barbarians they added a contempt for life, which was derived from a warm persuasion of the immortality and transmigration of the soul.
    • 1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter, a Romance, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor, Reed, and Fields, →OCLC ↗:
      I had been none of the warmest of partisans.
  8. (archaic, informal) Well off as to property, or in good circumstances; prosperous.
    • (Can we date this quote?), [Oliver Goldsmith], [Oliver Goldsmith]}

      }, (Please provide the book title or journal name):

      You shall have a draught upon him, payable at sight: and let me tell you he is as warm a man as any within five miles round him.
      title = The Vicar of Wakefield: […]volume = !(please specify |volume=I or II)location = Salisbury, Wiltshirepublisher = […] B. Collins, for F[rancis] Newbery, […]year = 1766page =pages =pageurl = https://archive.org/details/bim_eighteenth-century_the-vicar-of-wakefield-_goldsmith-oliver_1766__1/page//mode/1upoclc = 21416084newversion =location2 =publisher2 =year2 =page2 =pages2 =pageurl2 =oclc2 =textparam = 4allowparams = year,volume,1,chapter,2,page,3,pageref,pages

      }}

    • 1824, Geoffrey Crayon [pseudonym; Washington Irving], Tales of a Traveller, (please specify |part=1 to 4), Philadelphia, Pa.: H[enry] C[harles] Carey & I[saac] Lea, […], →OCLC ↗:
      I know the Stuyvesant family —puff— every one of them —puff— not a more respectable family in the province —puff— old standards —puff— warm householders —puff— none of your upstarts
  9. (archaic) Requiring arduous effort.
Synonyms Antonyms Translations Translations Translations Translations Etymology 2

From Old English wierman.

Verb

warm (warms, present participle warming; simple past and past participle warmed)

  1. (transitive) To make or keep warm.
    • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC ↗, Isaiah 44 44-Chapter-15/# 15: ↗:
      Then shall it [an ash tree] be for a man to burn; for he will take thereof and warm himself.
    • 1825, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Morituri Salutamus:
      enough to warm, but not enough to burn
  2. (intransitive) To become warm, to heat up.
    My socks are warming by the fire.
    The earth soon warms on a clear summer day.
  3. (intransitive) (sometimes in the form warm up) To favour increasingly. [with to]
    • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 5, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC ↗:
      Mr. Campion appeared suitably impressed and she warmed to him. He was very easy to talk to with those long clown lines in his pale face, a natural goon, born rather too early she suspected.
    He is warming to the idea.
    Her classmates are gradually warming to her.
  4. (ditransitive with to) To cause (someone) to favour (something) increasingly.
  5. (intransitive) To become ardent or animated.
    The speaker warms as he proceeds.
  6. (transitive) To make engaged or earnest; to interest; to engage; to excite ardor or zeal in; to enliven.
    • 1717 November 20, Alexander Pope, letter to the Bishop of Rochester
      there was a collection of all that had been written […] : I warmed my head with them.
    • 1827, [John Keble], The Christian Year: Thoughts in Verse for the Sundays and Holydays throughout the Year, volume (please specify |volume=I or II), Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] [B]y W. Baxter, for J. Parker; and C[harles] and J[ohn] Rivington, […], →OCLC ↗:
      Bright hopes, that erst the bosom warmed.
  7. (transitive) To give emotional warmth to a person.
  8. (transitive, colloquial) To beat or spank.
    • 1945, The Atlantic, volume 176, page 94:
      Not bothering to turn around and not missing a mouthful, Myrtle comforted her with threats of "I'll warm your bottom"; "I'll turn you over to your dad"; "I'll lock you in the truck"; "I'll send for the bogey man" — all of which Darleen ignored […]
  9. (transitive, colloquial) To scold or abuse verbally.
  10. (computing, transitive) To prepopulate (a cache) so that its contents are ready for other users.
Translations Translations
  • Italian: accostarsi a, affezionarsi a
Noun

warm (plural warms)

  1. (colloquial) The act of warming, or the state of being warmed; a heating.
    Shall I give your coffee a warm in the microwave?
    • 1843 December 18, Charles Dickens, “(please specify the page number)”, in A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas, London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC ↗:
      Sit ye down before the fire , my dear , and have a warm



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