yelm
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /jɛlm/
rhymes: -ɛlm
Forms: form: yelms
Etymology: The noun is derived from Middle English yelm, from Old English ġielm (“bunch or handful (of plant stems)”), from Proto-West Germanic *galmi (“bundle or handful of plants”), possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰelh₃- (“green, yellow”) or *gʰel- (“to cut”).
The verb is derived from the noun.
Senses: examples: text: After the leaves had been removed, as many turnips were thrown together as would lie upon a circle four yards in diameter: yealms of wheat-straw were made, similar to such as are used for thatching, but longer, thicker, and formed with less precision: four tall stakes were then driven into the earth, each a yard from the heap, so as to form a square, each side of which would measure six yards. Two courses of yealms were next placed on the earth, so as to enclose the quadrangle indicated by the stakes; […]
ref: 1822 April 27, John Cowley, William Staines, “L.—On Preserving Turnips, &c. during the Winter.”, in Thomas Gill, editor, The Technical Repository, Containing Practical Information on Subjects Connected with Discoveries and Improvements in the Useful Arts, volume III, London: Printed by R. Watts, for the proprietors; published by T[homas] Cadell, […], published 1823, →OCLC, page 253:
text: Another useful implement of Mr. Williams' is his Patent Horse-rake. […] [A] ball working with the leverage of a handle keeps the teeth at their work, and is connected with the bar running underneath by a spring, and cannot lose the yealm.
ref: 1852 December 11, “The Smithfield Club Show—Agricultural Implements”, in R[ichard] A[rchibald] Brooman, editors, The Mechanics’ Magazine, Museum, Register, Journal, and Gazette, volume LVII, number 1531, London: Robertson, Brooman, and Co. […], →OCLC, page 467, column 1:
text: The carts take them [mangold or mangelwurzel] to the place for graving, and the whole is so regulated that all are kept going. The grave is usually set out about eight or nine feet in width, and the slant upwards finishes in a point at about five to six feet in height. Straw or stubble is drawn out in "haulms" or "yealms" as for thatching, and with these the grave is securely thatched and made safe by spits of earth being thrown upon the sides.
ref: 1866, “a practical farmer” [pseudonym], “The Harvesting of the Mangold Crop”, in The British Farmer’s Magazine, volume XL (New Series), number CXXI, London: Rogerson and Tuxford, […], →OCLC, page 499, column 2:
text: He [the thatcher] is attended by a man to carry up the ‘yelms,’ […]
ref: 1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], “The Hamlet—Cottage Astrology—Ghost Lore—Herbs—The Waggon and Its Crew—Stiles—The Trysting-place—The Thatcher—Smugglers—Ague”, in Wild Life in a Southern County […], London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC, page 124:
text: The thatcher then laid the ‘yelms’, or bunches of drawn straw, on the laths, beginning at the eaves and working up towards the ridge.
ref: 1952, L[ouis] F[rancis] Salzman, “Thatch, Tiles, Slates, Vanes”, in Building in England down to 1540: A Documentary History, revised edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Clarendon Press by Vivian Ridler […], published 1967, →OCLC, page 224:
glosses: A bundle of straw laid out straight, chiefly to be used for thatching; a helm.