adj. (old and still colloquial).—Generic for extra-ordinary: e.g., a WARM (= intimate FRIEND; WARM (= sincere) THANKS; a WARM (= hearty) WELCOME; a WARM (= fresh) TRAIL: cf. ‘hot,’ ‘warm,’ and ‘cold’ in children’s play of guessing or ‘hide-and-seek’; WARM (= easy) CIRCUMSTANCES: whence TO CUT UP WARM = to leave a good estate, to die rich; a WARM (= rich) MAN: ‘well-lined or flush in the pocket’ (B. E. and GROSE); WARM (in one’s position, duty, etc.) = at home, conversant with, well adapted to: hence TO KEEP A PLACE, etc., WARM = to occupy it; a WARM (= unpleasant) POSITION: e.g., ‘He’s in a WARM corner’; a WARM (= zealous) OPINION; a WARM (= brisk) ENGAGEMENT; a WARM (= enthusiastic) PARTISAN; WARM (= quick) WORK; a WARM (= hasty) TEMPER: espec. when contradicted; WARM (= wanton) DESIRE: a WARM (= lecherous) MEMBER (or WARM-’UN): a harlot or whoremonger: cf. HOT-UN, SCORCHER (q.v.); also (2) WARM-MEMBER = an energetic, pushful, self-advertising person; WARM (= strong) LANGUAGE; a WARM (= hostile) RECEPTION: hence the place gets too WARM (= unpleasant) because of unpopularity or antagonism to authority, and so forth.
1377. CHAUCER, Troilus and Criseyde [T. L. KINGTON-OLIPHANT, The New English, i. 114. A prosperous man is said to sit WARM; hence our WARM (thriving) MAN, and our tenants sit at so much rent].
1551. TYTLER, Edward VI. [T. L. KINGTON-OLIPHANT, The New English, i. 528. The adjective WARM is employed for iratus].
1610. JONSON, The Alchemist, ii. 1. A gentleman newly WARM in his land, sir.
1613. PURCHAS, Pilgrimage, 84. His brother … had a while WARMED the throne.
1662. MIDDLETON, Anything for a Quiet Life, i. 1. Water Camlet. Believe it, I am a poor commoner. Sir F. Cres. Come, you are WARM and blest with a fair wife.
1680. DRYDEN, The Spanish Friar, i. 1. We shall have WARM WORK on ’t.
c. 1693. CONGREVE, Juvenal, xi.
| But that their small stock of credit gone, | |
| Lest Rome should grow too WARM, from thence they run. |
1728. SWIFT, On the Death of Stella. When she saw any of the company very WARM in a wrong opinion, she was more inclined to confirm them in it than oppose them.
1766. GOLDSMITH, The Vicar of Wakefield, xvi. We have been thinking of marrying her to one of your tenants … a WARM man … able to give her good bread.
1809. IRVING, Knickerbocker History of New-York, 409. Scarcely had the worthy Mynheer Beekman got WARM in the seat of authority on the South River, than enemies began to spring up all around him.
1809. MALKIN, Gil Blas [ROUTLEDGE], 85. This WARM old gentleman has the moderation to lend me money at twenty per cent. Ibid., 192. I was a WARM widow with a comfortable jointure, and a person little, if anything, the worse for wear. Ibid., 216. We feathered our nests pretty WARMLY.
1814. AUSTEN, Mansfield Park, xvi. I do not know the play; but … if there is anything a little too WARM … it can be easily left out.
c. 1827. MACAULAY, Hallam’s Constitutional History. The conduct of Hampden in the affair of the ship-money met with the WARM approbation of every respectable royalist in England.
1834. EDGEWORTH, Helen, xxvi. When people are WARM they cannot stand picking terms.
1865. DICKENS, Our Mutual Friend, III. vi. ‘He’s WARM.’… ‘He’s getting cold.’… ‘He’s getting colder and colder!—Now he’s freezing!’
c. 1875. Music Hall Song, ‘Keep it Dark.’ Dr. Kenealy, that popular bloke, That extremely WARM member, the member for Stoke.
c. 1889. Music Hall Song, ‘Salvation Sarah.’ They call me Salvation Sarah, A WARM-’UN I have been; But now I am converted, I’ll never go wrong again.
1897. MARSHALL, Pomes, 124. And, in a monetary sense, He looked on her as ‘WARM.’
1901. The Sporting Times, 27 April, 1. 4. ‘I suppose … the pretty bird should be placed in a warm room, eh?’ ‘Oh, it don’t siggernify, lady, … any room’ll be WARM enough once he starts a-talkin’!’
1902. LYNCH, High Stakes, 122. Perry ran to earth … the fellow … who drove Bradish…. It means that we are getting WARM.
PHRASES: TO WARM A HOUSE = to celebrate incoming by a feast: hence HOUSE-WARMING; TO WARM TO (a thing, one’s work, etc.) = to become enthusiastic, to do vigorously; WARM WITH = ‘WARM WITH sugar’: cf. COLD WITHOUT; ‘Out of God’s blessing into the WARM SUN’ = from better to worse. Also see WARMING.
1581. J. LYLY, Euphues, Z. 3. b. Therefore if thou wilt follow my advice, and prosecute thine owne determination, THOU SHALT COME OUT OF A WARME SUNNE INTO GOD’S BLESSING.
1605. SHAKESPEARE, King Lear, ii. 2.
| Kent. Good king, that must approve the common saw! | |
| Thou OUT OF HEAVEN’S BENEDICTION COM’ST | |
| TO THE WARM SUN! |
1608. HARINGTON, Nugæ Antiquæ, Of Carlyle [PARK, ed., ii. 273]. Marks being removed from Carlisle to Samos in Greece, viz. OUT OF GODS BLESSING INTO A WARME SUNNE, as the saying is.
| Ibid. (1615); Epigrams, ii. 56. | |
| Pray God they bring us not, when all is done, | |
| OUT OF GOD’S BLESSING INTO THIS WARM SUN. |
1616–25. The Court and Times of James the First, s.v. [We see] WARM A HOUSE [with a feast].
1836. DICKENS, Sketches by Boz, ‘Miss Evans and the Eagle.’ Two glasses of rum-and-water ‘WARM WITH.’
1870. W. M. BAKER, The New Timothy, 73. As the minister WARMS TO his sermon there come through these cracks frequent exclamations of ‘Bless de Lord!’
1885. Home Tidings, 369. The two contestants put up their dukes and soon WARMED UP to their work.
