Word of the Day

: February 12, 2019

teem

verb TEEM

What It Means

1 : to become filled to overflowing : abound

2 : to be present in large quantity

teem in Context

"On Friday, Tselikis stood in front of the Red's Best stall at Boston's Public Market, offering up tidbits about lobsters as they teemed inside a tank." — Gintautas Dumcius, MassLive.com, 10 June 2016

"But beneath the surface, some of the rigs are teeming with biological life. Dozens of fish species, thousands of different kinds of invertebrates, and sea lions all call the rigs home." — Erik Olsen, Quartz, 17 Nov. 2018

Did You Know?

The verb teem and the noun team are not just homophones, they are also etymological kin. Teem is derived from Old English tīman or tæman, which originally meant "to bring forth offspring" or "to become pregnant." That word is related to the ancestor of team, the Old English noun tēam, meaning "offspring, lineage, or group of draft animals." Team can still be used to refer to a brood of young animals, especially pigs or ducks, but both teem and team have otherwise largely left their offspring-related senses behind.