Forms: α. 1 fǽman, 3 femin, feamen, south. vemen, 4 feme; β. 4–7 fome, (4 south. vome, 5 fomyn,) 5 fame, 7 foame, 6– foam. [OE. fǽman = OHG. feiman (MHG. veimen, G. feimen:—WGer. *faimjan, f. *faim- FOAM sb. In 14th c. the OE. word was superseded by a new formation on the sb. (without umlaut).]
1. intr. To emit foam; esp. to froth at the mouth; also with out. Often as a hyperbolical description of vehement rage or wrath. Also of a horse, etc.: To be covered with foam (of perspiration). Cf. FOAM sb. 1 b.
c. 950. Lindisfarne Gospels, Mark ix. 18. Spumat, fæmeð.
a. 1225. Juliana, 68. As an burst bar, þat grunde his tuskes ant feng on to femin.
a. 1350. Life Jesus, 223.
| Bete and bite it wolde alle Men, þat eni þing neiȝ him come, | |
| And grenny with is teth and feme, and falle a doun ilone. |
1430. Lydgate, Chronicle of Troy, II. xii.
| And mine horse on whych I tho did ryde, | |
| Fomyng full whyte vpon euery syde. |
c. 1440. Jacob’s Well, 99. Þe man hurte hym-self, & beet his hefd & his body aȝens þ ground, & fomyd out at his mowth.
a. 1529. Skelton, Elynour Rummyng, 339.
| Her felow did stammer and stut, | |
| But she was a foule slut, | |
| For her mouth fomyd | |
| And her bely groned. |
1601. Shaks., Jul. C., I. ii. 255. Cask. He [Cæsar] fell downe in the Market-place, and foam’d at mouth, and was speechlesse.
1735. Somerville, The Chace, III. 113.
| He [a Courser] snorts, he foams, | |
| The big round Drops run trickling down his Sides. |
1807–8. W. Irving, Salmagundi (1894), 349. I expected every moment to see them fall down in convulsions, foam at the mouth, and shriek with fancied inspiration.
1852. Mrs. Stowe, Uncle Tom’s C., xl. There was one hesitating pause,—one irresolute, relenting thrill,—and the spirit of evil came back, with seven-fold vehemence; and Legree, foaming with rage, smote his victim to the ground.
fig. 1817. D’Israeli, Cur. Lit. III. 302–3. The same Puritanic spirit soon reached our Universities; for when a Dr. GAGER had a Play performed at Christ-church, Dr. REYNOLDS of Queen’s College, terrified at the Satanic novelty, published ‘The Ouerthrow of Stage-plays, 1593’; a tedious invective, foaming at the mouth of its text with quotations and authorities; for that was the age when authority was stronger than opinion, and the slightest could awe the readers.
1870. Swinburne, Ess. & Stud. (1875), 248. He [Byron] foams at things and creatures not worth a glance or a blow.
b. Const. † of † on, with (blood).
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 7260.
| Heturly his helme hurlit in sonder, | |
| þat the fas in the fell hast femyt on blode. |
c. 1425. Seven Sag. (P.), 958.
| And layden as he were wode, | |
| Til hys mouthe famed of blode. |
1573. Baret, Alv., F 821. He fometh with bloud at the mouth.
† 2. To come forth in foam. Obs.
c. 1340. Gaw. & Gr. Knt., 1572. Þe froþe femed at his mouth vnfayre bi þe wykeȝ.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., VII. xxx. (1495), 244. The blood fomith wyth cough and traueyle and ache.
3. Of water or other liquid: To froth, gather foam. Also, to run foaming along, down, over, etc. Also fig. To foam off, foam itself away: to pass away in foam.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XIII. xxv. (1495), 456. For lightnesse of ayre that is closid water fomyth.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 169/2. Fomyn, spumo.
1535. Coverdale, Isa. lvii. 20. But the wicked are like the raginge see, that can not rest, whose water fometh with the myre & grauel.
1576. in W. H. Turner, Select. Rec. Oxford, 386. In wynter the water fomyth over.
1606. Shaks., Ant. & Cl., II. vi. 21.
| My Nauie. At whose burthen, | |
| The anger’d Ocean fomes, with which I meant | |
| To scourge th’ingratitude, that despightfull Rome | |
| Cast on my Noble Father. |
1728. Young, Odes to King, Wks. (1757), I. 173.
| The Roman Ode | |
| Majestick flow’d; | |
| Its stream divinely clear, and strong; | |
| In sense, and sound, | |
| Thebes rowl’d profound; | |
| The torrent roar’d, and foam’d along. |
1820. W. Irving, Sketch Bk., Rip Van Winkle I. 76. He found the gully up which he and his companion had ascended the preceding evening; but to his astonishment a mountain stream was now foaming down it, leaping from rock to rock, and filling the glen with babbling murmurs.
1826. Scott, Woodst., x. Enthusiasm is a stream that may foam off in its own time, whereas it is sure to bear down every barrier which is directly opposed to it.
1852. Tennyson, Death Dk. Wellington, 125.
| Dash’d on every rocky square | |
| Their surging charges foam’d themselves away. |
b. Of a steam-boiler: To become filled with foam (Webster, 1864).
4. a. intr. Of a drinking vessel: To be filled with foaming liquor. b. trans. To fill or brim with foaming liquor.
1725. Pope, Odyss., XV. 338.
| Few can with me in dext’rous works contend, | |
| The pyre to build, the stubborn oak to rend; | |
| To return the tasteful viand o’er the flame; | |
| Or foam the goblet with a purple stream. |
1822. Shelley, Hellas, 939. The cup is foaming with a nation’s blood.
1855. M. Arnold, Mycerinus, 97. Flush’d guests, and golden goblets, foam’d with wine.
5. trans. To send forth or emit in or like foam; to pour out with rage and violence. Chiefly fig.
1388. Wyclif, Jude 13. These ben … wawis of the woode see, fomynge [1382, frothinge] out her confusiouns.
a. 1535. More, Wks. (1557), 579/1. Tindall … aunswereth me with an hydeous exclamacion, and crying out vpon my fleshlines and folye, fometh oute hys hyghe spirituall sentence in thys fashion.
1601. J. Weever, The Mirror of Martyrs, E viij b.
| Two fyrie coursers foming clottred blood, | |
| Whurries; at last, Death bound in iron chaines. |
1784. Cowper, Task, VI. 895.
| Lust in their hearts, | |
| And mischief in their hands, they roam the earth | |
| To prey upon each other; stubborn, fierce, | |
| High-minded, foaming out their own disgrace. |
1864. Tennyson, Aylmer’s F., 339.
| Then, his [Leolin’s] passions all in flood | |
| And masters of his motion, furiously | |
| Down thro’ the bright lawns to his brother’s ran, | |
| And foam’d away his heart at Averill’s ear. |
† 6. To cover with or as with foam. Obs. rare.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 10219. With þaire fawchons fell, femyt of blode.
1556. J. Heywood, Spider & F., lx. 4.
| At which rumorus rore, | |
| The head spider (with wheat tuskes fomde like a bore) | |
| In that rage. |
7. nonce-use. To draw (a chariot) along with the accompaniment of foam.
1820. Keats, Hyperion, II. 232.
| Have ye beheld the young God of the Seas, | |
| My dispossessor? Have ye seen his face? | |
| Have ye beheld his chariot, foam’d along | |
| By noble winged creatures he hath made? |
Hence Foamed ppl. a., covered with foam: only in far-foamed. Foamer, one who foams.
1607. Topsell, Four-f. Beasts (1658), 577. [Epithets applied to wolves] … bloud-sucker, foamer.
1820. Keats, Hyperion, II. 171.
| In murmurs, which his first-endeavouring tongue | |
| Caught infant-like from the far-foamed sands. |
