Word of the Day

: February 22, 2014

teem

verb TEEM

What It Means

1 : to become filled to overflowing

2 : to be present in large quantity

teem in Context

By mid-morning the theme park will already be teeming with visitors.

"Dispensing with the last installment's cumbersome mythology, this one gets back to basics, dumping the hero on a desert planet teeming with lethal critters and determined bounty hunters." - From a movie review by Tom Russo in The Boston Globe, January 12, 2014

Did You Know?

The verb "teem" and the noun "team" are not just homophones, they are also etymological kin. "Teem" is derived from Old English "tīman" or "tæman," which originally meant "to bring forth offspring" or "to become pregnant" and which is related to the ancestor of "team," the Old English noun "tēam," meaning "offspring, lineage, or group of draft animals." "Team" can still be used to refer to a brood of young animals, especially pigs or ducks, but both "teem" and "team" have otherwise largely left their offspring-related senses behind.