Adjacent Words

Tame definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

TAME, a.
1. That has lost its native wildness and shyness; mild; accustomed to man; domestic; as a tame deer; a tame bird.
2. Crushed; subdued; depressed; spiritless.
And you, tame slaves of the laborious plow.
3. Spiritless; unanimated; as a tame poem. [Not elegant nor in use.
TAME, v.t. [L. domo; Heb. to be silent, dumb.]
1. To reclaim; to reduce from a wild to a domestic state; to make gentle and familiar; as, to tame a wild beast.
2. To civilize; as, to tame the ferocious inhabitants of the forest.
3. To subdue; to conquer; to depress; as, to tame the pride or passions of youth.
4. To subdue; to repress; as wildness or licentiousness.
The tongue can no man tame. James 3.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: flat and uninspiring
2: very restrained or quiet; "a tame Christmas party"; "she was one of the tamest and most abject creatures imaginable with no will or power to act but as directed" [ant: wild]
3: brought from wildness into a domesticated state; "tame animals"; "fields of tame blueberries" [syn: tame, tamed] [ant: untamed, wild]
4: very docile; "tame obedience"; "meek as a mouse"- Langston Hughes [syn: meek, tame] v
1: correct by punishment or discipline [syn: tame, chasten, subdue]
2: make less strong or intense; soften; "Tone down that aggressive letter"; "The author finally tamed some of his potentially offensive statements" [syn: tone down, moderate, tame]
3: adapt (a wild plant or unclaimed land) to the environment; "domesticate oats"; "tame the soil" [syn: domesticate, cultivate, naturalize, naturalise, tame]
4: overcome the wildness of; make docile and tractable; "He tames lions for the circus"; "reclaim falcons" [syn: domesticate, domesticize, domesticise, reclaim, tame]
5: make fit for cultivation, domestic life, and service to humans; "The horse was domesticated a long time ago"; "The wolf was tamed and evolved into the house dog" [syn: domesticate, tame]

Merriam Webster's

I. adjective (tamer; tamest) Etymology: Middle English, from Old English tam; akin to Old High German zam tame, Latin domare to tame, Greek damnanai Date: before 12th century 1. reduced from a state of native wildness especially so as to be tractable and useful to humans ; domesticated <tame animals> 2. made docile and submissive ; subdued 3. lacking spirit, zest, interest, or the capacity to excite ; insipid <a tame campaign> • tamely adverb • tameness noun II. verb (tamed; taming) Date: 13th century transitive verb 1. a. to reduce from a wild to a domestic state b. to subject to cultivation c. to bring under control ; harness 2. to deprive of spirit ; humble, subdue <the once revolutionary…party, long since tamed — Times Literary Supplement> 3. to tone down ; soften <tamed the language in the play> intransitive verb to become tame • tamable or tameable adjective • tamer noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. & v. --adj. 1 (of an animal) domesticated; not wild or shy. 2 insipid; lacking spirit or interest; dull (tame acquiescence). 3 (of a person) amenable and available. 4 US a (of land) cultivated. b (of a plant) produced by cultivation. --v.tr. 1 make tame; domesticate; break in. 2 subdue, curb, humble; break the spirit of. Derivatives: tamely adv. tameness n. tamer n. (also in comb.). Etymology: OE tam f. Gmc

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Tame Tame, v. t. [Cf. F. entamer to cut into, to broach.] To broach or enter upon; to taste, as a liquor; to divide; to distribute; to deal out. [Obs. or Prov. Eng.] In the time of famine he is the Joseph of the country, and keeps the poor from starving. Then he tameth his stacks of corn, which not his covetousness, but providence, hath reserved for time of need. --Fuller.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Tame Tame, a. [Compar. Tamer; superl. Tamest.] [AS. tam; akin to D. tam, G. zahm, OHG. zam, Dan. & Sw. tam, Icel. tamr, L. domare to tame, Gr. ?, Skr. dam to be tame, to tame, and perhaps to E. beteem. [root]61. Cf. Adamant, Diamond, Dame, Daunt, Indomitable.] 1. Reduced from a state of native wildness and shyness; accustomed to man; domesticated; domestic; as, a tame deer, a tame bird. 2. Crushed; subdued; depressed; spiritless. Tame slaves of the laborious plow. --Roscommon. 3. Deficient in spirit or animation; spiritless; dull; flat; insipid; as, a tame poem; tame scenery. Syn: Gentle; mild; meek. See Gentle.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Tame Tame, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Tamed; p. pr. & vb. n. Taming.] [AS. tamian, temian, akin to D. tammen, temmen, G. z["a]hmen, OHG. zemmen, Icel. temja, Goth. gatamjan. See Tame, a.] 1. To reduce from a wild to a domestic state; to make gentle and familiar; to reclaim; to domesticate; as, to tame a wild beast. They had not been tamed into submission, but baited into savegeness and stubbornness. --Macaulay. 2. To subdue; to conquer; to repress; as, to tame the pride or passions of youth.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(tamer, tamest, tames, taming, tamed) 1. A tame animal or bird is one that is not afraid of humans. The deer never became tame; they would run away if you approached them. ADJ 2. If you say that something or someone is tame, you are criticizing them for being weak and uninteresting, rather than forceful or shocking. Some of today's political demonstrations look rather tame... ADJ [disapproval] • tamely There was no excuse though when Thomas shot tamely wide from eight yards. ADV: ADV with v 3. If someone tames a wild animal or bird, they train it not to be afraid of humans and to do what they say. The Amazons were believed to have been the first to tame horses. VERB: V n

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. a. 1. Domesticated, domestic, mild, gentle, docile, reclaimed. 2. Subdued, crushed, submissive, meek. 3. Spiritless, dull, flat, feeble, lean, vapid, insipid, jejune, barren, languid, prosing, prosy, prosaic, uninteresting, poor, tedious. II. v. a. 1. Domesticate, make tame, make docile, reclaim. 2. Subdue, repress, conquer, overcome, overthrow, subjugate.

1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue

To run tame about a house; to live familiarly in a family with which one is upon a visit. Tame army; the city trained bands.

Moby Thesaurus

abate, abeyant, acclimate, acclimatize, accommodate, accustom, adapt, adjust, allay, alleviate, amenable, apathetic, assuage, attemper, bank the fire, bed, bed down, biddable, bland, blunt, boring, break, break in, break to harness, bridle, broken, brush, bust, busted, calm, case harden, cataleptic, catatonic, chasten, chastened, compliant, condition, confirm, constrain, control, cowardly, curb, curry, currycomb, damp, dampen, de-emphasize, dead, deaden, diminish, disciplined, docile, domestic, domesticate, domesticated, domesticize, domiciliate, dopey, dormant, dovelike, downplay, drench, dull, establish, extenuate, familiarize, fearless, feeble, feed, fix, flat, fodder, foul, gentle, groggy, groom, habituate, handle, harden, harness, heavy, hitch, house-train, housebreak, housebroken, humble, humdrum, in abeyance, in suspense, inactive, ineffectual, inert, insipid, inure, judicious, keep within bounds, lamblike, languid, languorous, latent, lay, leaden, lenify, lessen, lifeless, lighten, lily-livered, litter, logy, manage, master, meek, mild, mild as milk, milk, mitigate, moderate, modulate, mollify, mute, naturalize, nonviolent, obedient, obtund, ordinary, orient, orientate, pacific, pacifistic, pacify, palliate, passive, peaceable, peaceful, phlegmatic, play down, pliable, pliant, prosaic, prudent, pusillanimous, quiet, reduce, reduce the temperature, restrain, rub down, run-of-the-mill, saddle, season, sedentary, slack, slacken, sleeping, slow down, sluggish, slumbering, smoldering, smother, sober, sober down, soft, soften, stagnant, standing, static, stifle, subdue, subdued, subjugate, submissive, suppress, suppressed, suspended, tamed, tedious, temper, temperate, tend, timid, timorous, tiresome, tone down, torpid, tractable, train, trained, tune down, unafraid, unaroused, unassertive, underplay, unexciting, uninspired, uninteresting, vapid, water, weaken, white-livered, wishy-washy, wont, yellow, yoke