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Added 9 October 2026

rime

/ɹaɪm/ noun

In Latin: pruina Wiktionary

noun Definition from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about rime at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

Archaic in the form rimes: originally, any frozen dew forming a white deposit on exposed surfaces; hoar frost (sense 1).
A film or slimy coating. White hair as an indication of old age.
A film or slimy coating.

verb

To cover (something) with rime (noun etymology 1, noun sense 1 or etymology 1, noun sense 3.1) or hoar frost. To cover (something) with a thin coating or film; to coat.
To cover (something) with rime (noun etymology 1, noun sense 1 or etymology 1, noun sense 3.1) or hoar frost.
To cover (something) with a thin coating or film; to coat.

noun

Archaic spelling of rhyme (“word that rhymes with another”).
Samuel Taylor Coleridge wrote The Rime of the Ancient Mariner in 1797–1798.
The second part of a syllable, from the vowel on (as opposed to the onset).

verb

Archaic spelling of rhyme.

Origin

The noun is derived from Middle English rim, rime, rym, ryme (“hoar frost; rime”), from Old English hrīm (“frost”), from Proto-West Germanic *hrīm (“rime; hoar frost”), from Proto-Germanic *hrīmą (North Germanic), *hrīmaz, *hrīmô (“rime; hoar frost”), probably from Proto-Indo-European *krey- (“to graze, touch; to streak”). The verb is derived from the noun.

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)

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