Rime

Pronunciation

• UK enPR: rÄ«m, IPA: /raɪm/
• Rhymes: -aɪm
• Homophones: rhyme

From Middle English rim, from Old English hrīm, from Proto-Germanic *hrīmaz, *hrīmą ("hoarfrost") (compare Dutch rijm, Danish rim); akin to Latvian krèims ("cream") and Latin bruma ("winter solstice").

Full definition of rime

Noun

1. (meteorology, uncountable) ice formed by the rapid freezing of cold water droplets of fog onto a cold surface.
• De QuinceyThe trees were now covered with rime.
2. (meteorology, uncountable) a coating or sheet of ice so formed.
3. (uncountable) a film or slimy coating.

Synonyms

• (a deposition of ice) hoarfrost, frost

Derived terms

• rimy

Verb

1. To freeze or congeal into hoarfrost.

Middle English rime, from Old English rīm ("number"), from Proto-Germanic *rīmą ("calculation, number"), from Proto-Indo-European *rēy- ("to regulate, count"). Influenced in meaning by Old French rime from the same Germanic source.

Alternative forms

• rhyme

Noun

1. (obsolete or dialectal) Number.
2. (archaic except in direct borrowings from French) rhyme
3. (linguistics) the second part of a syllable, from the vowel on, as opposed to the onset

Usage notes

In reading education, "rime" refers to the vowel and the letters that come after the vowels in a syllable. For example, sit, spit, and split all have the same rime (-it). Words that rhyme often share the same rime, such as rock and sock (-ock). However, words that rhyme do not always share the same rime, such as claim and fame (-aim and -ame). Additionally, words that share the same rime do not always rhyme, such as tough and though (-ough). Rhyme and rime are not interchangeable, although they often overlap.

Verb

1. Obsolete form of rhyme

Uncertain.

Noun

1. A step of a ladder; a rung.

Latin rima.

Noun

1. A rent or long aperture; a chink; a fissure; a crack.

Anagrams

• emir, Meri, mire