Library / English Dictionary

BRIM

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

Irregular inflected forms: brimmed    , brimming   

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A circular projection that sticks outward from the crown of a hat

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("brim" is a kind of...):

projection (any structure that branches out from a central support)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "brim"):

bill; eyeshade; peak; visor; vizor (a brim that projects to the front to shade the eyes)

snap brim (a brim that can be turned up and down on opposite sides)

Holonyms ("brim" is a part of...):

chapeau; hat; lid (headdress that protects the head from bad weather; has shaped crown and usually a brim)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The top edge of a vessel or other container

Synonyms:

brim; lip; rim

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("brim" is a kind of...):

edge (a sharp side formed by the intersection of two surfaces of an object)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "brim"):

collar; shoe collar (the stitching that forms the rim of a shoe or boot)

Holonyms ("brim" is a part of...):

vessel (an object used as a container (especially for liquids))

Derivation:

brim (fill as much as possible)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Fill as much as possible

Example:

brim a cup to good fellowship

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "brim" is one way to...):

fill; fill up; make full (make full, also in a metaphorical sense)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

brim (the top edge of a vessel or other container)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Be completely full

Example:

His eyes brimmed with tears

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Hypernyms (to "brim" is one way to...):

feature; have (have as a feature)

Sentence frame:

Something is ----ing PP

Credits

 Context examples: 

She shut her book and slowly looked up; her hat-brim partially shaded her face, yet I could see, as she raised it, that it was a strange one.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Thus, when old Doctor Meldrum, with his well-known curly-brimmed opera-hat, appeared upon the platform, there was such a universal query of Where DID you get that tile?

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

You shall not make a guy of yourself, remonstrated Meg, as Jo tied down with a red ribbon the broad-brimmed, old-fashioned leghorn Laurie had sent for a joke.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

They wore round hats that rose to a small point a foot above their heads, with little bells around the brims that tinkled sweetly as they moved.

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

A blood vessel containing deoxygenated blood formed by the joining of the internal and external iliac veins at the pelvic brim that runs upward behind the internal iliac artery to the right side of the fifth lumbar vertebra where it joins with its counterpart from the opposite side of the body to form the inferior vena cava.

(Common Iliac Vein, NCI Thesaurus)

But when I slept, or when the virtue of the medicine wore off, I would leap almost without transition (for the pangs of transformation grew daily less marked) into the possession of a fancy brimming with images of terror, a soul boiling with causeless hatreds, and a body that seemed not strong enough to contain the raging energies of life.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

With the shock, his broad-brimmed hat flew from his head, his cravat slipped down from his lips, and there were the long light beard and the soft, handsome delicate features of Colonel Valentine Walter.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The shaft into which the river hurls itself is an immense chasm, lined by glistening coal-black rock, and narrowing into a creaming, boiling pit of incalculable depth, which brims over and shoots the stream onward over its jagged lip.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I had seen whisky drunk, such as whisky-and-soda by the men of the clubs, but never as these men drank it, from pannikins and mugs, and from the bottles—great brimming drinks, each one of which was in itself a debauch.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

I entreated his imperial majesty to give orders it might be brought to me as soon as possible, describing to him the use and the nature of it: and the next day the waggoners arrived with it, but not in a very good condition; they had bored two holes in the brim, within an inch and half of the edge, and fastened two hooks in the holes; these hooks were tied by a long cord to the harness, and thus my hat was dragged along for above half an English mile; but, the ground in that country being extremely smooth and level, it received less damage than I expected.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)