Temse
//tɛms// noun, verb
noun, verb ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A sieve. UK, dialectal, obsolete
"Stone your apricots , coddle them , and rub them through a temse"
Verb
- 1 To sift. dialectal, obsolete
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
More examples"Stone your apricots , coddle them , and rub them through a temse"
Etymology
From Middle English temse (“a sieve”) and temsen (“to sieve”), both from Old English temsian, temesian (“to sieve; strain; sift”). Compare also French tamis, Dutch teems, North Frisian tems, Danish dialectal tems (“sieve”), German dialectal Zims (“sieve”). Compare also tamine. Doublet of tamis.
Related phrases
More for "temse"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.