stonepicnicking_okapi: letters (letters)
stonepicnicking_okapi ([personal profile] stonepicnicking_okapi) wrote in [community profile] 1word1day2025-06-02 03:27 pm

Monday Word: Dwam

dwam [dwɔːm or dwɑːm]

chiefly Scottish

noun:

1. a fainting spell or sudden attack of illness
2. daydream, reverie

examples:
1. Rebus drove to work next morning in what his father would have called "a dwam," unaware of the world around him. Saints of the Shadow Bible by Ian Rankin.

2. Online shoppers don't drift or derive or dwam around: they point and click. The Guardian "Tales from the Mall by Ewan Morrison – review." August 2012

origin
akin to Old English dwolma chaos, Old High German twalm bewilderment, stupefaction, Old Norse dylminn careless, indifferent, Gothic dwalmon to be foolish, insane