rime

noun

1. (countable, uncountable)Archaic in the form rimes: originally, any frozen dew forming a white deposit on exposed surfaces; hoar frost (sense 1).

   “In a Hoar-Froſt, that vvhich vve call a Rime, is a Multitude of Quadrangular Priſmes, exactly figured, but piled vvithout any Order, one over another.”

   “Sylphs! if vvith morn deſtructive Eurus ſprings, / O, claſp the Harebel vvith your velvet vvings; / Screen vvith thick leaves the Jaſmine as it blovvs, / And ſhake the vvhite rime from the ſhuddering Roſe; […]”

   “And moonlight splendour of intensest rime, / With which frost paints the pines in winter time.”

   “The night had been heavy and lowering: but towards the morning it had changed to a slight frost: and the ground and the trees were now covered with rime.”

   “But there are accents sweeter far / When Love leaps down our evening star, / Holds back the blighting wings of Time, / Melts with his breath the crusty rime, […]”

2. (countable, figuratively, uncountable)A film or slimy coating.
3. (countable, figuratively, uncountable)White hair as an indication of old age.

   “Tales that have the rime of age, / And chronicles of Eld.”

   “The cold within him [Ebenezer Scrooge] froze his old features, nipped his pointed nose, shrivelled his cheek, stiffened his gait; made his eyes red, his thin lips blue; and spoke out shrewdly in his grating voice. A frosty rime was on his head, and on his eyebrows, and his wiry chin.”

4. (countable, uncountable)Ice formed by the rapid freezing of cold water droplets of fog on to a cold surface.
5. (countable, uncountable)A coating or sheet of ice so formed.
6. (British, countable, regional, uncountable)A cold fog or mist.

   “When Tommy and Elspeth reached the Den the mist lay so thick that they had to feel their way though it to the Ailie, where they found Gavinia alone and scared. […] "As sure as death," she said, "there was some living thing standing there; I couldna see it for the rime, but I heard it breathing hard."”

7. (alt-of, archaic, countable, uncountable)Archaic spelling of rhyme (“word that rhymes with another”).

   “Samuel Taylor Coleridge wrote The Rime of the Ancient Mariner in 1797–1798.”

   “Libels are caſt againſt thee in the ſtreete, / Ballads and rimes made of thy ouerthrovv.”

   “Thou, thou, Lyſander, thou haſt giuen her rimes, / And interchang'd loue tokens vvith my childe: […]”

   “[M]ary I cannot ſhevv it in rime, I haue tried, I can finde out no rime to Ladie, but babie, an innocent rime: for ſcorne, horne, a hard rime: for ſchoole foole, a babling rime: very ominous endings, no, I vvas not borne vnder a riming plannet, nor I cannot vvooe in feſtiuall termes: […]”

   “VVhen in the Chronicle of vvaſted time, / I ſee diſcriptions of the faireſt vvights, / And beautie making beautifull old rime, / In praiſe of Ladies dead, and louely Knights, […]”

8. (countable, uncountable)The second part of a syllable, from the vowel on (as opposed to the onset).
9. (obsolete, transitive)A narrow aperture or opening; a chink, a crack, a fissure; a rent, a rip.

   “[T]he ſevvet of oxen […] is alſo good againſt the inflammation of the eares, the ſtupidity and dulneſſe of the teeth, the running of the eyes, the vlcers and rimes of the mouth, and ſtiffneſſe of the neck.”

   “[T]hough birds have no Epiglottis, yet can they ſo contract the rime or chinck of their Larinx, as to prevent the admiſſion of vvet or dry ingeſted, […]”

verb

1. (transitive)To cover (something) with rime (noun etymology 1, noun sense 1 or etymology 1, noun sense 3.1) or (loosely) hoar frost.

   “―No more ſhall hoary Boreas, iſſuing forth / VVith Eurus, lead the tempeſts of the North; / Rime the pale Davvn, or veil'd in flaky ſhovvers / Chill the ſvveet boſoms of the ſmiling Hours.”

   “[T]he hoar was a blanching on post and hedge, riming the dykes, […]”

2. (figuratively, transitive)To cover (something) with a thin coating or film; to coat.

   “Oh, London, London! […] the mornings silvery gray, and the multitudinous monuments rimed by years, thunder of hoofs in ways without end, and the silence of mighty parks—Bud lay awake in the nights to think of them.”

3. (intransitive)Sometimes followed by up: of a thing: to become covered with rime or (loosely) hoar frost.
4. (alt-of, archaic)Archaic spelling of rhyme.

   “Ha, ha, hovv vildely doth this Cynicke rime?”

   “VVill you Rime vpon't, / And vent it for a Mock'rie? Heere is one: / Tvvo Boyes, an Oldman (tvvice a Boy) a Lane, / Preſeru'd the Britaines, vvas the Romanes bane.”

   “How Panurge and the rest rim'd with Poetick Fury [chapter title]”

   ““He was aye rimin’,” said Miss Newbigging, “about this bonny countryside and the dacent folk that bode in it.””

5. (ambitransitive, archaic)Followed by up: to count (something); to number, to reckon.
6. (transitive)Synonym of ream.
7. (transitive)Synonym of ream.
8. (Ireland, rare, transitive)To dye (wool or yarn) reddish-brown by boiling or soaking in water with alder twigs.
9. (intransitive, obsolete, rare, transitive)Followed by into: to probe, to pry.

   “Our act was, with finger, and nail, and eye, to rime into every jot of it [a case]; and our words were—'I am sure there is something inside. If not, it would open sensibly.'”