Wim

v. s.w. dial. Forms: 5 (?) –6 wym, 7 wimme, 7, 9 wimb, 7– wim (9 whim). [Of obscure origin; cf. WIMBLE v.²] To winnow.

  Form and meaning in first quot. are doubtful.

1455.  Churchw. Acc., Yatton (Som. Rec. Soc.), 98. For j man to helpe to wymmynge the malte to the mylle … ij^d.

1681.  Oates Well Thresht, 2. They are thresh’t, and wimb’d.

1691.  Ray, S. & E. C. Words (ed. 2), To Wimme; Suss. Dial. i. e. Winnow.

1886.  W. Som. Word-bk., s.v., Our volks be all busy wimin o’ barley.

  b.  Comb.: † wimsheet, a winnowing-sheet. Also Wimming vbl. sb. in Comb. wimming-dust, -sheet.

1532.  in Weaver, Wells Wills (1890), 111. One whit wymshete. Ibid. (1535), 116. To Pascowe Lethall, a wymeshit and bushell of rye.

1681.  Worlidge, Syst. Agric., 61. Some have strain’d a Wimsheet athwart a Barns Floor about the middle thereof, and with a Scoop or Shovel cast their Wheat against the upper part of the Sheet.

1825.  Jennings, Observ. Dial. W. Eng., Wim-sheet, Wimmin-sheet, a sheet upon which corn is winnowed. Wimmin-dust, chaff.