teem

(tēm)

v., teemed, teem·ing, teems.

v.intr.

1. To be full of things; abound or swarm: A drop of water teems with microorganisms.
2. Obsolete. To be or become pregnant; bear young.

v.tr. Archaic
To give birth to.

[Middle English temen, to beget, bear, from Old English tīeman, tēman.]

teemer teem'er n.
teemingly teem'ing·ly adv.

SYNONYMS   teem, abound, crawl, overflow, swarm. These verbs mean to be abundantly filled or richly supplied: The street teemed with pedestrians. The garden abounds with flowers. The sidewalk was crawling with vendors. The house overflowed with guests. The parade route swarmed with spectators.

teem² (tēm)
tr.v., teemed, teem·ing, teems.
To pour out or empty: teemed the molten ore into a huge mold.

[Middle English temen, from Old Norse töma.]

View more Food & Cooking videos

It sometimes causes surprise that the two apparently close meanings involved here are of two distinct verbs. One, from an Old English word meaning 'to give birth to', means 'to be full of or swarming with' (as in a sea teeming with fish), and the other, from an Old Norse word meaning 'to empty', means 'to pour or flow copiously' (as in teeming with rain). Neither should be confused with the verb team, as used in the phrasal verb team up with.

Previous:	techno-, teaspoonful, taxi
Next:	teenager, teetotaller, tele-

verb

To be abundantly filled or richly supplied: abound, bristle, crawl, flow, overflow, pullulate, swarm. See big/small/amount, rich/poor.

v

Definition: be abundant, full
Antonyms: lack, need, want

IN BRIEF: To be overflowing; to swarm.

Does your vegetable garden teem with insects and other hungry animals?

LearnThatWord.com is a free vocabulary and spelling program where you only pay for results!

See words rhyming with "teem."

  See crossword solutions for the clue Teem.

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

Dansk (Danish)
1.
v. intr. - vrimle, myldre, udfolde sig
v. tr. - frembringe, føde

2.
v. intr. - styrte ned, falde tungt
v. tr. - øse, tømme

Nederlands (Dutch)
wemelen, stortregenen

Français (French)
1.
v. intr. - regorger de, fourmiller de
v. tr. - donner naissance à

2.
v. intr. - pleuvoir des cordes
v. tr. - déverser, vider

Deutsch (German)
1.
v. - wimmeln, schütten

2.
v. - entleeren, ausleeren, gießen

Ελληνική (Greek)
v. - βρίθω, είμαι γεμάτος

Italiano (Italian)
brulicare

Português (Portuguese)
v. - abundar, chover a cântaros, esvaziar, procriar

Русский (Russian)
кишеть, изобиловать, (метал.) разливать плавку, течь

Español (Spanish)
1.
v. intr. - hormiguear, pulular, rebosar, estar lleno de, abundar en
v. tr. - engendrar, producir

2.
v. intr. - diluviar
v. tr. - rebosar

Svenska (Swedish)
v. - vimla, myllra, krylla, ösa (ned)

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
1. 倾住, 倾泻, 倒出, 把注入模具

2. 倒出, 把注入模具

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
1.
v. intr. - 傾住, 傾瀉
v. tr. - 倒出, 把注入模具

2.
v. tr. - 倒出, 把注入模具

한국어 (Korean)
1.
v. intr. - ~ 투성이다, 풍부하다, 많다
v. tr. - ~ 을 낳다, ~의 원인이 되다

2.
v. intr. - (비가) 퍼붓다
v. tr. - (그릇을) 비우다

日本語 (Japanese)
v. - 満ちている, あふれるほどある, 注ぐ, 激しく降る

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(فعل) يصب, يفرغ, تلد, تنتج‏

עברית (Hebrew)
v. intr. - ‮שפע, שרץ, רחש, היה מלא ב-‬
v. tr. - ‮הוליד‬
v. intr. - ‮ירד (גשם), ניתך, זרם בשפע‬
v. tr. - ‮שפך, הריק‬

If you are unable to view some languages clearly, click here.

To select your translation preferences click here.