sloom means A gentle sleep; slumber. It carries an Arena rating of 1764, earned across 24 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, sloom ranks #876 of 17,140 for Most Whimsical Words, #1,070 of 17,130 for Most Beautiful Words, #2,045 of 17,143 for Best Fossil-Poetry Words, #2,178 of 17,142 for Most Ingenious Words.
sloom is pronounced /sluːm/.
Why “sloom” is a great word
A gentle sleep or the act of sleeping lightly; to soften or rot from damp. From Middle English *sloume, sloumbe, slume*, from Old English *sluma* ("sleep, slumber"), from Proto-Germanic *slūm-* ("to be slack, loose, or limp"), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)lew-* ("limp, flabby"). Unlike slumber, which implies a deep and untroubled repose, or doze, which is a brief and often accidental lapse, sloom is a lighter, more permeable state. It is the shallow breath of a child napping in a sunbeam, the way mossy ground yields underfoot, or the quiet disintegration of fallen leaves into a damp forest floor—a slow surrender of structure, a return to a softer, older form.
Etymology
From Middle English *sloume, sloumbe, slume, from Old English sluma (“sleep, slumber”), from Proto-Germanic *slūm- (“to be slack, loose, or limp”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)lew- (“limp, flabby”). Compare slumber and Dutch sloom.
noun
- A gentle sleep; slumber.
verb
- To sleep lightly, to doze, to nod; to be half-asleep.e.g.“The squire sloomed and slept in his chair; and finally, after a cup of tea, went to bed.” — 1886, Amelia Edith Huddleston Barr, The Squire of Sandal-Side A Pastoral Romance:
- To soften or rot with damp. (of plants or soil)e.g.“He adds, that one hundred bolls, or fifty quarters of wheat may be thrashed in a day of eight hours, unless the grain has been sloomed or mildewed; […]” — a. 1807, unidentified young farmer, letter to his father, printed in Edinburgh Farmers’ Magazine 1807, reprinted in The Farmer’s Register, Volume 7, Number 9 (1839 September 30), page 540
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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