weemn.
/wiːm/ The name applied in Scotland to a cave or underground dwelling-place used by early inhabitants of the country.
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society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > dwelling place or abode > a dwelling > other types of dwelling > [noun] > cave or underground dwelling
earth houseeOE
cavec1220
bikea1522
mattamore1695
subterranean1714
subterrane1759
yurt1780
weem1792
subterrene1793
ice cave1810
gibber-gunyah1847
dugout1855
fogou1864
abri1887
pit house1907
the world > the earth > land > landscape > low land > hole or pit > [noun] > cave > dwelling
weem1792
gibber-gunyah1847
1792 J. Sinclair Statist. Acct. Scotl. IV. 101 An artificial cave or subterraneous passage, such as is sometimes called by the country people a weem.
1851 D. Wilson Archæol. & Prehistoric Ann. Scotl. i. iv. 78 The general name applied in Scotland to these subterranean habitations is Weems, from the Gaelic word uamha, a cave.
1865 C. W. Kett in Q. Jrnl. Sci. Apr. 247 We find in Scotland underground dwelling-places formed of large unhewn stones without cement of any kind; these are called weems.
1892 D. MacRitchie Underground Life 47 It would be an easy matter for proprietors to fence in and otherwise protect existing ‘weems’.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1926; most recently modified version published online September 2018).
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n.1792