helm
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: enpr: hĕlm
ipa: /hɛlm/
rhymes: -ɛlm
Forms: form: helms
Etymology: From Middle English helm (“helmet; crown of thorns of Jesus; warrior; inn or shop sign”) [and other forms], from Old English helm (“helmet”), from Proto-West Germanic *helm, from Proto-Germanic *helmaz (“protective covering”), probably from Proto-Indo-European *ḱelmos, from the root *ḱel- (“to cover”). Doublet of heaume and related to helmet.
Cognates
* Gothic 𐌷𐌹𐌻𐌼𐍃 (hilms)
* Old Frisian helm (West Frisian helm)
* Old High German helm (Middle High German helm, modern German Helm; Italian elmo; Old French helme, modern French heaume; Spanish yelmo)
* Old Norse hjalmr (Danish hjelm, Norwegian hjelm, Swedish hjälm)
* Old Saxon helm (Low German Helm, Middle Dutch helm, modern Dutch helm)
Senses: examples: text: Their plumed helmes are wrought with beaten golde, / Their ſwords enameld, and about their neckes / Hangs maſſie chaines of golde downe to the waſte, / In euery part exceding braue and rich.
ref: c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act I, scene ii:
text: O're Shields and Helmes, and helmed heads he rode / Of Thrones and mighty Seraphim proſtrate, / That vviſh'd the Mountains novv might be again / Throvvn on them as a ſhelter from his ire.
ref: 1667, John Milton, “Book VI”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 840–843:
text: The maſſy golden Helm ſhe next aſſumes, / That dreadful nods vvith four o'erſhading Plumes; / So vaſt, the broad Circumference contains / A hundred Armies on a hundred Plains.
ref: 1716, Homer, translated by Alexander Pope, “Book V”, in The Iliad of Homer, volume II, London: […] W[illiam] Bowyer, for Bernard Lintott […], →OCLC, page 59, lines 918–921:
text: From 'neath his gilded helm his golden hair / Fell waving down, but hidden were his eyes / By the wide brim: […]
ref: 1870, William Morris, “November: The Lovers of Gudrun”, in The Earthly Paradise: A Poem, part III, London: F[rederick] S[tartridge] Ellis, […], →OCLC, page 480:
text: "A fearful apparition," murmured Norman of Torn. "No wonder he keeps his helm closed."
ref: 1914 January–May, Edgar Rice Burroughs, chapter VII, in The Outlaw of Torn, Chicago, Ill.: A[lexander] C[aldwell] McClurg, published 1927, →OCLC; republished as The Outlaw of Torn (Project Gutenberg; EBook #369), 11 November 2020:
text: The ordered system of symbols which we know as heraldry came into being in the twelfth century to meet a military need. These symbols were emblazoned on shields, surcoats and fighting flags, and served as an invaluable means of identification when the features were obscured by the great helm.
ref: 1956 July, Col. H. C. B. Rogers, “Railway Heraldry”, in Railway Magazine, page 476:
glosses: A helmet.
topics: government
heraldry
hobbies
lifestyle
monarchy
nobility
politics
glosses: Synonym of helmet (“the feature above a shield on a coat of arms”).
synonyms: word: helmet
extra: the feature above a shield on a coat of arms
glosses: A shelter for cattle or other farm animals; a hemmel, a shed.
examples: text: Then ancient Skiddaw, stern and proud, / In sullen majesty replying, / Thus spake from out of his helm of cloud […]
ref: 1800 November (date written; published 1806), Samuel Taylor Coleridge, “[Sibylline Leaves.] A Stranger Minstrel. [Written to Mrs. [Mary] Robinson, a Few Weeks before Her Death.]”, in The Poetical and Dramatic Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge […], volume II, London: Macmillan and Co., published 1880, →OCLC, page 159:
qualifier: Northern England (Cumberland, Westmorland)
glosses: A heavy cloud lying on the brow of a mountain, especially one associated with a storm.
qualifier: except British
glosses: The crown or top of something.
examples: text: The Dragons teeth, Mercurie ſublimate, / That keepes the vvhiteneſſe, hardneſſe and the biting; / And they are gather’d, into Iaſon’s helme, / (Th’Alembeke) and then ſovv’d in Mars his field, / And, thence, ſublim’d ſo often, till they are fix’d.
ref: 1610 (first performance), Ben[jamin] Jonson, The Alchemist, London: […] Thomas Snodham, for Walter Burre, and are to be sold by Iohn Stepneth, […], published 1612, →OCLC, Act II, scene i:
topics: alchemy
chemistry
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
pseudoscience
glosses: The upper part or cap of an alembic or retort.
Derived terms: word: behelm
word: helmed