[ME. tamen, f. TAME a., taking in the 14th c. the place of the earlier TEME:—OE. tęmian, f. tam adj.]
1. trans. To bring (a wild animal) under the control or into the service of man; to reclaim from the wild state, to domesticate. Also fig.
c. 1315. Shoreham, Poems, vi. 65. Þat vnicorn þat was so wyld … Þou hast y-tamed [hyt], and i-styld.
1390. Gower, Conf., II. 161. Hou men hem scholde ryde and tame.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 486/2. Tamyn, or make tame, domo.
1593. Shaks., Lucr., 956. To tame the vnicorne, and Lion wild.
1710. Steele, Tatler, No. 222, ¶ 3. As People tame Hawks and Eagles, by keeping them awake.
1863. Lyell, Antiq. Man, 24. At a later period … the lake-dwellers succeeded in taming that formidable brute the Bos primigenius, the Urus of Cæsar.
1877. E. R. Conder, Bas. Faith, i. 23. Or tames the lightning to be his newsmonger and his lamplighter.
† b. To bring (a wild plant) under or into cultivation; to reclaim or improve (land) by cultivation.
1601. Dolman, La Primaud. Fr. Acad. (1618), III. 795. Many great personages … haue taken paines to tame them, and cause them to grow in gardens.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Georg., I. 144. For he with frequent Exercise Commands Th’ unwilling Soil, and tames the stubborn Lands.
a. 1722. Lisle, Husb. (1757), 100 (E.D.D.). By that time the ground will be tamed.
1746. W. Dunkin, in Francis, Horace, Ep., II. ii. 280. Another shall … tame the savage Soil.
2. To overcome the wildness or fierceness of (a man, animal, or thing); to subdue, subjugate, curb; to render gentle, tractable, or docile.
1382. Wyclif, Dan. ii. 40. Hou yrun brekith to gydre alle thingus, and dauntith [gloss or tamith].
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 2194. Soche tyrandes to tame, þat vs tene wirkes.
1526. Tindale, 1 Cor. ix. 27. But I tame my body and brynge hym into subjeccion.
a. 1548. Hall, Chron., Hen. IV., 23. The prince … had tamed & brideled the furious rage of the wild and sauage Welshemen.
1667. Milton, P. L., XII. 191. This River-dragon tam’d at length submits To let his sojourners depart.
1748. Gray, Alliance, 43. Industry and gain … Command the Winds, and tame th’ unwilling Deep.
1783. Crabbe, Village, II. 165. To tame the fierce grief and stem the rising sigh.
1838. Dickens, Nich. Nick., ix. She hoped she had tamed a high spirit or two in her day.
1852. Mrs. Stowe, Uncle Tom’s C., xix. I took him in hand, and in one fortnight I had him tamed down as submissive and tractable as heart could desire.
1859. Art Taming Horses, etc., i. 20. Mr. Rarey had tamed Cruiser, the most vicious stallion in England.
1863. [see sense 1].
b. intr. To become tame; to grow gentle, submissive, or sedate. Also with down.
1646. Shirley, Narcissus, lxxiii. All wilde shall tame before thee as thou go’st.
1655. H. Vaughan, Silex Scint., I. Disorder & Frailty, iii. My weak fire … after all my height of flames, In sickly expirations tames.
1853. Miss Yonge, Heir of Redclyffe, xii. She had … tamed down into what gave the promise of a sensible woman.
3. trans. To reduce the intensity of; to tone down; to temper, soften, mellow; also, to render dull or uninteresting.
a. 1500[?]. Chester Pl., vii. 78. Hemlockes, and herif … With Tarboyst most bene all tamed.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Georg., II. 836. Nor cou’d Vulcanian Flame The Stench abolish, or the Savour tame. Ibid. (1700), Baucis & Philemon, 69. This in the pot he plung’d without delay To tame the flesh, and drain the salt away.
1847. H. Rogers, Ess., I. v. 221. The first editors had tamed down some of the more startling statements of Pascal.
1871. Palgrave, Lyr. Poems, Brecon Bridge. Manhood’s colours tamed to gray.
4. Combs. (sb. or adj.) of the verb-stem with a sb. (as obj.), as tame-grief, sb. that which subdues grief, or adj. that subdues grief; tame-horse = tamer of horses (tr. Gr. ἱππόδαμος); tame-poison, a name of Vincetoxicum officinale (also called Asclepias or Cynanchum Vincetoxicum), the root of which was used as an antidote to poisons.
1605. Sylvester, Du Bartas, II. iii. I. Vocation, 151. Soule’s remedy! O contrite heart’s restorer! Tears-wiping tame-griefe!
c. 1611. Chapman, Iliad, II. 16. Sleepes the wise Atreus-tame-horse sonne?
1785. Martyn, Rousseau’s Bot., xvi. (1794), 126. Common Swallow-wort or Tame poison.
1866. Treas. Bot., 1217. The root … was formerly in some repute as a medicine;… as an antidote to poisons—whence it has been named Contrayerva Germanorum and Tame-poison.
Hence Tamed, Taming ppl. adjs.
1552. Huloet, Tamed, domesticus,… domitus.
1582. Stanyhurst, Æneis, II. (Arb.), 55. Tamde men haue one saulfty.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Georg., III. 227. Let ’em run at large; and never know The taming Yoak.
1836. J. H. Newman, in Lyra Apost. (1849), 217. Time hath a taming hand!
1894. A. Whyte, S. Rutherford, xi. 87. Tamed and softened … by that taming and softening book.
