ream

To enlarge (a hole), especially using a reamer; to bore (a hole) wider.

Noun law

  1. A bundle, package, or quantity of paper, nowadays usually containing 500 sheets.
    • The accountants requested reams of financial records.

    Coordinate Terms: bale bundle quire

    1. (by extension, chiefly in the plural, figurative, law) An extremely large quantity of documents, data, or information that supports a claim, investigation, or case.

    2. (by extension, chiefly in the plural) An abstract large amount of something.

      • I can't go – I still have reams of work left.
      • A large language model (LLM), the technology underpinning chatbots like ChatGPT or Anthropic’s Claude, is a type of neural network, a computer program different from typical software. By feeding it reams of data,...

      Synonyms: bunch load pile abundance battalion arseload assload bellyload boatload brimful busload bucketful bucketload butt-ton bumload buttload cartload crapflood crapload deal fuckload fuckton fuckwad gob

      Coordinate Terms: bale bundle quire

Origin

From Middle English reme, from Old French raime, rayme (“ream”) (French rame), from Catalan raima (“ream”), from Arabic رِزْمَة (rizma, “bundle”).

Forms

reams reme

Derived

printer's ream reamful

Noun Northern England, Scotland

  1. Cream; also, the creamlike froth on ale or other liquor; froth or foam in general.

Origin

From Middle English rem, reme, from Old English rēam (“cream”), from Proto-West Germanic *raum, from Proto-Germanic *raumaz (“cream”), from Proto-Indo-European *réwgʰmn̥ (“to sour [milk]”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Room (“cream”), West Frisian rjemme (“cream”), Dutch room (“cream”), German Low German Rahm, Rohm (“cream”), German Rahm (“cream”), Swedish römme (“cream”), Norwegian rømme (“sour cream”), Faroese rómi (“cream”), Icelandic rjómi (“cream”). See also ramekin.

Forms

reem raim

Derived

reamy

Verb Entry 3

  1. To enlarge (a hole), especially using a reamer; to bore (a hole) wider.

    Synonyms: rime

  2. To remove (material) by reaming.
  3. To remove burrs and debris from inside (something, such as a freshly bored hole) using a tool.

    Synonyms: rime

  4. To shape or form, especially using a reamer.
  5. To sexually penetrate in a rough and painful way.
  6. To yell at or berate.

    Synonyms: ream out

Origin

Etymology uncertain, possibly a variant of rime (etymology 4) with the East Anglian and Kentish development of Old English /yː/ to /eː/ (the modern spelling would thus be unetymologically for *reem). Doublet of room. Cognates * Dutch ruimen (“to empty, evacuate”) * German räumen (“to make room”) * Icelandic rýma (“to make room, clear”).

Forms

reams reaming reamed reem rim

Synonyms

dig out nail root tap

Derived

ream job

Verb Northern England, Scotland

  1. To cream; mantle; foam; froth.
    • a huge pewter measuring pot […] which, in the language of the hostess, reamed with excellent claret - 1814 July 7, [Walter Scott], Waverley; or, ’Tis Sixty Years Since. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III),...

Forms

reams reaming reamed reem raim