1. Word finder
  2. Word definitions
  3. loom

Find the word definition

What is "loom"

Crossword clues for loom

loom
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
loom
I.verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a deadline approaches/looms
▪ Things began to get more frantic as the deadline loomed.
loom out of the mist (=start being seen in a way that is not clear, because the mist still covers it slightly)
▪ Here and there trees loomed out of the mist.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
ahead
▪ Presently the city of Kefalov loomed ahead.
▪ The point is simply to flag problems that loom ahead.
▪ Another sign loomed ahead and she frowned into the darkness, slowing up as she approached it.
▪ Fathers also feel great emotional changes as their priorities change and added financial require-ments loom ahead.
▪ She knew a miserable distaste for the day that loomed ahead.
▪ I decided I would urge her to take some time off, what with the busy holiday season looming ahead.
▪ By focusing on major issues that loom ahead, they create a forum for anticipatory thinking.
large
▪ Once confined with one's relatives, kinship and wealth loom large.
over
▪ He was helpless to defend himself against the terrible gleaming weapon in the fist of the menacing black figure looming over him.
▪ No tall figure loomed over the till as she was serving, or appeared suddenly from behind the window displays.
▪ FitzAlan stood up, immediately looming over her in the confines of the hut.
▪ Palms loomed over cypresses and poinsettias, and brown men in straw hats trimmed the miles of green lawns.
▪ Deserted watchtowers on stilts loom over major intersections.
▪ He swaggered across and loomed over her, aggressive and protective at the same time.
▪ A tower loomed over the roofless mansion, and beyond it, the spire of the Church of Ireland could be seen.
▪ He stood, looming over the manager's desk.
up
▪ I feel it looming up behind me, breathing lightly on the nape of my neck.
▪ As you descend, a mushroom-shaped structure looms up out of the murk.
▪ The goodwill died with the fire and black shapes loomed up out of the dark.
▪ The apartment loomed up around him as a kind of blur.
▪ The House of Parliament loomed up and his heart began to thump.
▪ Then the war loomed up black and sinister; my work was going to be interrupted.
▪ Then, they were braking to a skidding halt as the towering framework of the fire escape loomed up out of the mist.
■ NOUN
crisis
▪ However, the crisis that looms over the market minefield is not just one of deepening poverty but of ultimate environmental collapse.
▪ While commercial flying is safer than ever, a future crisis is looming, the report warns.
election
▪ The election was looming: the chances of his holding Bath slight indeed.
▪ In the latter, parishioners staked out positions and courted support as though an election loomed.
▪ Towards the end of the decade, with elections looming, land distribution decreased in favour of greater emphasis on raising agricultural yields.
▪ As the 1936 elections loomed, Roosevelt divided voters along economic lines to an extent rarely before seen.
▪ Congressional elections loom next year; after that, maneuvering will start for the next presidential election.
▪ But with the presidential election looming, the cries for protectionism from the ultra-conservative Buchanan are angering many business people.
▪ So what was he to do now, with another election looming?
▪ Unfortunately, election year is looming.
face
▪ Rose's face loomed suddenly, ecstatic and blank.
▪ Among the faces looming out of the night, and through the fog of my exhaustion, my host was instantly recognizable.
▪ The face loomed up out of the darkness and leered at her through the rain-soaked glass.
▪ Why do faces loom up in this way?
figure
▪ He was helpless to defend himself against the terrible gleaming weapon in the fist of the menacing black figure looming over him.
▪ A daunting figure came looming out of the night.
▪ No tall figure loomed over the till as she was serving, or appeared suddenly from behind the window displays.
▪ The figure loomed over him and began to laugh, a cackling, hysterical laugh.
horizon
▪ Sadly, when I was there war was not the only dark cloud looming on the horizon.
▪ Meanwhile, the absolute deadline of June 30, 1982, loomed on the horizon.
▪ The two disputes he mentioned pale in comparison with others looming on the horizon.
▪ Additionally, grain merchandisers bought corn futures this morning, suggesting additional sales could loom on the horizon, traders said.
▪ Another kind of hazard was already looming on the horizon for the weaker peasant elements.
problem
▪ Two other potential problems loom large.
▪ The point is simply to flag problems that loom ahead.
▪ This was one of two problems that loomed large at the time.
▪ Presuming a job could be found, the problems of child care loomed.
▪ Retrenchment in the world's biggest economies would have an impact on Britain, even if there were no domestic problems looming.
▪ To you these might not always seem like severe difficulties, but for young people problems like these can loom large.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ As the day of my interview loomed, I became increasingly nervous.
▪ The mountain loomed in front of us.
▪ The two countries believe that a crisis is looming.
▪ With the prospect of bankruptcy looming, life is getting tough for small businesses.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ A snow-covered hedge loomed up ahead of him and he made for the shelter of it.
▪ And the spectre of money laundering looms.
▪ Congressional elections loom next year; after that, maneuvering will start for the next presidential election.
▪ Directly behind him was a huge billboard with her picture looming big and brassy back at her.
▪ In consequence, untold numbers of sailors died when their destinations suddenly loomed out of the sea and took them by surprise.
▪ Mont Blanc, sixty miles distant, loomed massively present.
▪ The human factor also looms large in Bamford's presentation of the agency's strengths and weaknesses.
▪ We turned around, and after a few miles, an old building loomed into view.
II.noun
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ Its many alterations and additions reflect in stone and brick, the looms and busts at the woollen industry.
▪ Kalchu finished weaving the last whitish length of woollen cloth to make a jacket and put his loom away.
▪ The young man at the far end of the loom glanced at Maggie, and for an instant their eyes locked.
▪ They may have had a function in aiding the picking out of broken threads on the loom.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Loom

Loom \Loom\ (l[=oo]m), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Loomed (l[=oo]md); p. pr. & vb. n. Looming.] [OE. lumen to shine, Icel. ljoma; akin to AS. le['o]ma light, and E. light; or cf. OF. lumer to shine, L. luminare to illumine, lumen light; akin to E. light. [root]122. See Light not dark.]

  1. To appear above the surface either of sea or land, or to appear enlarged, or distorted and indistinct, as a distant object, a ship at sea, or a mountain, esp. from atmospheric influences; as, the ship looms large; the land looms high.

    Awful she looms, the terror of the main.
    --H. J. Pye.

  2. To rise and to be eminent; to be elevated or ennobled, in a moral sense.

    On no occasion does he [Paul] loom so high, and shine so gloriously, as in the context.
    --J. M. Mason.

  3. To become imminent; to impend.

Loom

Loom \Loom\ (l[=oo]m), n. (Zo["o]l.) See Loon, the bird.

Loom

Loom \Loom\ (l[=oo]m), n. [OE. lome, AS. gel[=o]ma utensil, implement.]

  1. A frame or machine of wood or other material, in which a weaver forms cloth out of thread; a machine for interweaving yarn or threads into a fabric, as in knitting or lace making.

    Hector, when he sees Andromache overwhelmed with terror, sends her for consolation to the loom and the distaff.
    --Rambler.

  2. (Naut.) That part of an oar which is near the grip or handle and inboard from the rowlock.
    --Totten.

Loom

Loom \Loom\, n. The state of looming; esp., an unnatural and indistinct appearance of elevation or enlargement of anything, as of land or of a ship, seen by one at sea.

Related phrases:
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
loom

weaving machine, Old English geloma "utensil, tool," from ge-, perfective prefix, + -loma, of unknown origin (compare Old English andloman (plural) "apparatus, furniture"). Originally "implement or tool of any kind" (as in heirloom); thus, "the penis" (c.1400-1600). Specific meaning "a machine in which yarn or thread is woven into fabric" is from c.1400.

loom

1540s, "to come into view largely and indistinctly," perhaps from a Scandinavian source (compare dialectal Swedish loma, East Frisian lomen "move slowly"), perhaps a variant from the root of lame (adj.). Early used also of ships moving up and down. Figurative use from 1590s. Related: Loomed; looming.

Wiktionary
loom

Etymology 1 n. 1 A utensil; tool; a weapon; (context usually in compound English) an article in general. 2 A frame or machine of wood or other material, in which a weaver forms cloth out of thread; a machine for interweaving yarn or threads into a fabric, as in knitting or lace making. 3 That part of an oar which is near the grip or handle and inboard from the rowlock Etymology 2

n. (context dated English) loon (bird of order ''Gaviformes'') Etymology 3

vb. to impend; to threaten or hang over.

Related phrases:
WordNet
loom

  1. n. a textile machine for weaving yarn into a textile

  2. v. come into view indistinctly, often threateningly; "Another air plane loomed into the sky"

  3. appear very large or occupy a commanding position; "The huge sculpture predominates over the fountain"; "Large shadows loomed on the canyon wall" [syn: tower, predominate, hulk]

  4. hang over, as of something threatening, dark, or menacing; "The terrible vision brooded over her all day long" [syn: brood, hover, bulk large]

Related phrases:
Wikipedia
Loom

A loom is a device used to weave cloth and tapestry. The basic purpose of any loom is to hold the warp threads under tension to facilitate the interweaving of the weft threads. The precise shape of the loom and its mechanics may vary, but the basic function is the same.

Loom (video game)

Loom is a 1990 fantasy-themed graphic adventure game by Lucasfilm Games. The project was led by Brian Moriarty, a former Infocom employee and author of classic text adventures Wishbringer (1985), Trinity (1986), and Beyond Zork (1987). It was the fourth game to use the SCUMM adventure game engine, and the first of those to avoid the verb–object interface introduced in Maniac Mansion.

Loom (disambiguation)

A loom is a device used to weave cloth.

Loom or LOOM may also refer to:

Loom (band)

Loom (often styled as LOOM) is an English rock band formed in Leamington Spa, Warwickshire in 2012 and based in London. The band consists of vocalist Tarik Badwan, lead guitarist Joshua Fitzgerald, rhythm guitarist Matt Marsh, bassist Harry Badwan (Tarik's brother), and drummer Samuel Lister. Harry Badwan and Lister joined the band in 2015.

Tarik Badwan has been called "the angriest man to stalk a stage in ages and the owner of the best death stare [sic: in] London." He is commonly noted as to having a malevolent stage presence: staring, jumping into the crowd, and other confrontational mischief.

LOOM (ontology)

Loom is a knowledge representation language developed by researchers in the Artificial Intelligence research group at the University of Southern California's Information Sciences Institute. The leader of the Loom project and primary architect for Loom was Robert MacGregor. The research was primarily sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

Loom is a Frame based language in the tradition of KL-ONE. As with KL-ONE, Loom has a formal semantics that maps declarations in Loom to statements in set theory and First Order Logic. This formal semantics enables a type of theorem prover engine called a classifier. The classifier can analyze Loom models (known as ontologies) and deduce various things about the model. For example, the classifier can discover new classes or change the subclass/superclass relations in the model. The classifier can also detect inconsistencies in the model declaration. This is a very powerful and fairly unusual capability in that it is capable of doing analysis at the ontology level, the level of declarations rather than at the implementation level as most inference engines do.

The Loom project's goal is the development and fielding of advanced tools for knowledge representation and reasoning in Artificial Intelligence. Specifically to enable code to be generated from provably valid domain models.

Loom is a language and environment for constructing intelligent applications. At its heart is a knowledge representation and reasoning system that combines a Frame based language with an automatic classifier engine. Declarative knowledge in Loom consists of definitions, rules, facts, and default rules. A deductive engine called a classifier utilizes forward chaining, semantic unification, and object-oriented truth maintenance technologies in order to compile the declarative knowledge into a network designed to efficiently support on-line deductive query processing.

The Loom system implements a logic-based pattern matcher that drives a production rule facility and a pattern-directed method dispatching facility that supports the definition of object-oriented methods. The high degree of integration between Loom's declarative and procedural components permits programmers to utilize logic programming, production rule, and object-oriented programming paradigms in a single application. Loom can also be used as a deductive layer that overlays an ordinary CLOS (Common Lisp Object System) network. In this mode, users can obtain many of the benefits of using Loom without impacting the function or performance of their CLOS-based applications.

Loom has recently been succeeded by PowerLoom.

Related phrases:

Usage examples of "loom".

The shadow that had loomed behind him resolved itself into the unmistakable form of van Effen, whose right hand curved round and held the aerosol can an inch or two from the .

Usually, she enjoyed getting lost in a throng of art aficionados, eavesdropping on the various off-the-cuff critiques, but just then, the crowd loomed like a threatening swarm.

Beyond the agora, Achamian saw a cohort of birds wheeling above the great domes of the Temple Xothei, whose silhouette loomed above the tenements hedging the north end of the market.

Thoroughly let down, Alec stole a last resentful look at the keep looming over the gorge, then hurried away after the others.

In Eline, die, van een loom en lymfatisch gestel, behoefte gevoelde aan teederen steun en zachtkoesterende warmte, en wier zenuwen, fijn als de vezelen eener bloem, zelfs in hare weeke, als met fluweel gecapitonneerde omgeving dikwijls nog door den minsten tegenstand te ruw werden beroerd en te hevig geprikkeld, ontwikkelde zich uit angst eene terughoudendheid, die haar gemoed vulde met duizenden kleine grieven van heimelijk verdriet.

I felt that the way she was talking would give her a liking for me, and I was satisfied that the man who can give birth to amorous desires is easily called upon to gratify them it was the reward I was ardently longing for, and I dared to hope it would be mine, although I could see it only looming in the distance.

Shapes loomed out of the overcast shadows at Ana, and there was an odd smell in the room.

There is not simply an inquiry as to the value of classic culture, a certain jealousy of the schools where it is obtained, a rough popular contempt for the graces of learning, a failure to see any connection between the first aorist and the rolling of steel rails, but there is arising an angry protest against the conditions of a life which make one free of the serene heights of thought and give him range of all intellectual countries, and keep another at the spade and the loom, year after year, that he may earn food for the day and lodging for the night.

He was arguing with a looming black giant who bore an outsized assagai few other men could have lifted.

March Walvis stirred restlessly inside the rear of the stretch Mercedes which was speeding along the autobahn carrying them to the castle in the mountains whose jagged peaks loomed ahead.

The choicest tapestries which the looms of Arras could furnish draped the walls, whereon the battles of Judas Maccabaeus were set forth, with the Jewish warriors in plate of proof, with crest and lance and banderole, as the naive artists of the day were wont to depict them.

The dark hazy outlines of the low scrubby tree-tops flicked by our wingtips close enough to touch, while ahead of us through the rain-mist an occasional big baobab tree loomed and Louren eased the jet over its greedily clutching branches.

Big in vision, a worldlet hilled and begrown with strangeness, loomed the black hole artifact.

And he saw something else, dimly through the smoke--a giant black man, looming against the red glare like a black devil stalking out of hell.

As the taximan drove towards Bunchy he saw another figure in an overcoat and top-hat loom through the mist and stand beside him.