rim

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ɹɪm/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English rime, inherited from Old English rima (“edge, border, coast”),^[2][3][4] found mainly in compounds such as sǣrima (“seashore”) and dæġrima (“dawn”);^[2][3][4] it is related to Old Frisian rim (“edge”) and Old Norse rimi (“raised strip of land, ridge”), with no other known cognates.^[2][3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

An edge or border: 897, in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, in Barnhart.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The outer ring of a wheel is from about 1400,^[3][2][5] and the general sense, a border of anything, typically a raised circular edge, by about 1600.^[3][5] The rim of a pair of spectacles is from 1865.^[5] The verb, to fit with a rim, is from 1794 (1621 in Merriam-Webster);^[3][6] the sexual slang senses are from the 1920s.^[3][7]

Timeline

• 897 – rima, edge.^[2]
• probably before 1200 – rieme, edge.^[2]
• c. 1400 – the rim of a wheel.^[3][5]
• c. 1600 – any raised edge.^[3]
• 1794 – to rim (verb).^[3]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The outer edge of something, especially something round, such as a cup or crater.
2. The outer part of a wheel, to which the tyre is fitted.
3. (basketball) The hoop from which the net hangs.

Verb

1. To form or put a rim around.
2. Of a ball, to roll around the rim of a basket or hole without dropping in.

Word family

• rimless
• rimfire
• rimland
• rimmer
• rimrock
• rimstone
• Pacific Rim
• rim lock

Related words

• brim
• edge
• border

Usage notes

In Orkney a rim was a rocky bottom in the sea, a favourite fishing ground.^[8]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
8. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)