helm

1. (nautical) To control the helm (noun sense 1) of (a marine vessel); to be in charge of steering (a vessel).Examples: "[A] wild wave in the wild North-sea, / […] overbears the bark, / And him that helms it, […]"; "For this light he steered, and soon he saw two tall pillars of flame blazing beside each other, with a narrow space of night between them. He helmed the ship towards these, and when he came near them they were like two mighty mountains of wood burning far into heaven, […]"transitive

2. (figuratively) To direct or lead (a project, etc.); to manage (an organization).Examples: "Ile ſtriue to be nor great nor ſmale, / To liue nor die, fate helmeth all, / VVhen I can breath no longer, then, / Heauen take all, there put Amen."; "The very ſtreame of his life, and the buſineſſe he hath helmed, muſt vppon a vvarranted neede, giue him a better proclamation."; "But we hold / Thou art forsworn; and no forsworn Archbishop / Shall helm the Church."figurativelytransitive

1. (archaic or poetic) A helmet.Examples: "Their plumed helmes are wrought with beaten golde, / Their ſwords enameld, and about their neckes / Hangs maſſie chaines of golde downe to the waſte, / In euery part exceding braue and rich."; "O're Shields and Helmes, and helmed heads he rode / Of Thrones and mighty Seraphim proſtrate, / That vviſh'd the Mountains novv might be again / Throvvn on them as a ſhelter from his ire."; "The maſſy golden Helm ſhe next aſſumes, / That dreadful nods vvith four o'erſhading Plumes; / So vaſt, the broad Circumference contains / A hundred Armies on a hundred Plains."archaicpoetictransitive

2. (heraldry) Synonym of helmet (“the feature above a shield on a coat of arms”).Synonyms: helmettransitive

3. (by extension)Northern-Englandbroadlytransitive

4. (by extension)Examples: "Then ancient Skiddaw, stern and proud, / In sullen majesty replying, / Thus spake from out of his helm of cloud […]"broadlytransitive

5. (by extension)broadlydialectalobsoletetransitive

6. (by extension)Examples: "The Dragons teeth, Mercurie ſublimate, / That keepes the vvhiteneſſe, hardneſſe and the biting; / And they are gather’d, into Iaſon’s helme, / (Th’Alembeke) and then ſovv’d in Mars his field, / And, thence, ſublim’d ſo often, till they are fix’d."broadlyobsoletetransitive

1. (transitive, archaic or poetic) To cover (a head) with a helmet; to provide (someone) with a helmet; to helmet.Examples: "Oh Noble Conon, / You taught my tender Hands the Trade of VVar; / And novv again you Helm your hoary Head, / And under double vveight of Age and Arms, / Aſſert your Countries Freedom, and my Crovvn."; "Then from the bank / He sprung, and helm'd his head."Synonyms: behelmarchaicpoetictransitive

1. (countable) A stalk of corn, or (uncountable) stalks of corn collectively (that is, straw), especially when bundled together or laid out straight to be used for thatching roofs.Synonyms: thatch, yelmcountabletransitive

2. (uncountable) Alternative form of haulm (“the stems of various cultivated plants, left after harvesting the crop, which are used as animal food or litter, or for thatching”).Examples: "The sheriff, John Griffith, had prepared green wood to burn him; but one master John Pikes, pitying the man, caused divers to go with him to Ridland, half a mile off, who brought good store of helme-sheaves, which indeed made good dispatch with little pain, in comparison to that he should have suffered with the green wood."alt-ofalternativetransitiveuncountable

3. (uncountable, obsolete) Synonym of bentgrass (“any of numerous reedy grass species of the genus Agrostis”)Examples: "The Italians, and Spaniards, call it Sparto, and the ſecond ſort Albardi, The Dutch Halm. And vve in Engliſh, Helme, and Matvveede, but the people all along the Coaſts of Norfolke and Suffolke, call it Marram, and may be called Sea Ruſhes as vvell."Synonyms: bentgrassobsoletetransitiveuncountable

1. (transitive) To lay out (stalks of corn, or straw) straight to be used for thatching roofs; to yelm.transitive