teem Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. verb be teeming, be abuzz
    swarm; pullulate.
    • The garden was swarming with bees
    • The plaza is teeming with undercover policemen
    • her mind pullulated with worries
  2. verb move in large numbers
    swarm; stream; pour; pullulate.
    • people were pouring out of the theater
    • beggars pullulated in the plaza

WordNet

Teem transitive verb
Etymology
Icel. tæma to empty, from tomr empty; akin to Dan. tömme to empty, Sw. tömma. See Toom to empty.
Definitions
  1. To pour; -- commonly followed by out; as, to teem out ale. Obs. or Prov. Eng. Swift.
  2. (Steel Manuf.) To pour, as steel, from a melting pot; to fill, as a mold, with molten metal.
Teem transitive verb
Etymology
See Tame, a., and cf. Beteem.
Definitions
  1. To think fit. Obs. or R. G. Gifford.
Teem intransitive verb
Etymology
OE. temen, AS. teman, tman, from teám. See Team.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Teemed ; present participle & verbal noun Teeming
Definitions
  1. To bring forth young, as an animal; to produce fruit, as a plant; to bear; to be pregnant; to conceive; to multiply.
    If she must teem, Create her child of spleen. Shak.
  2. To be full, or ready to bring forth; to be stocked to overflowing; to be prolific; to abound.
    His mind teeming with schemes of future deceit to cover former villainy. Sir W. Scott.
    The young, brimful of the hopes and feeling which teem in our time. F. Harrison.
Teem transitive verb
Definitions
  1. To produce; to bring forth. R.
    That [grief] of an hour's age doth hiss the speaker; Each minute teems a new one. Shak.

Webster 1913