[a. early Gael. uaim (now uaimh) cavern.] The name applied in Scotland to a cave or underground dwelling-place used by early inhabitants of the country.
1792. Statist. Acc. Scot., IV. 101. An artificial cave or subterraneous passage, such as is sometimes called by the country people a weem.
1851. D. Wilson, Preh. Ann., I. iv. (1863), 107. The general name applied in Scotland to these subterranean habitations is Weems, from the Gaelic word uamha a cave.
1865. C. W. Kett, in Q. Jrnl. Sci., April, 247. We find in Scotland underground dwelling places formed of large unhewn stones without cement of any kind; these are called weems.
1892. D. MacRitchie, Underground Life, 47. It would be an easy matter for proprietors to fence in and otherwise protect existing ‘weems.’
