Tame | Webster's Dictionary (1865)

Tāme, a.

adjective

a. [compar. TAMER; superl. TAMEST.] [A-S., O. Fries., D., Dan., & Sw. tam, L. Ger. tamm, tamm, Icel. tamr, O. H. Ger. zam, zami, N. H. Ger. zahm. See infra.]

Having laid aside or become changed from native wildness and shyness; accustomed to man; mild or gentle in disposition; domesticated; domestic; as, a tame deer; a tame bird.
Crushed; subdued; depressed; spiritless. “Tame slaves of the laborious plow.” Roscommon.
Deficient in spirit or animation; spiritless; dull; flat; as, a tame poem.

Syn.—Gentle; mild; meek. See GENTLE.

Tāme, v. t.

verbtransitive

v. t. [imp. & p. p. TAMED; p. pr. & vb. n. TAMING.] [A-S. tamian, temian, Goth. tamjan, gatamjan, O. Sax. teman, O. Fries. tema, Icel. temia, Sw. tämja, Dan. tämme, D. temmen, temmen, L. Ger. tämen, tämmen, O. H. Ger. zamôn, zamjan, zemjan, N. H. Ger. zähmen, allied to Skr. dam, Gr. δαμάω, Lat. domare.]

Sense 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 savageness and stubbornness. Macaulay.

Sense 2. To subdue; to conquer; to repress; as, to tame the pride or passions of youth.

Tāme, v. t.

verbtransitive

[Obs. or Prov. Eng.]

Sense 1. To broach or taste, as liquor. Halliwell.

Sense 2. To divide; to distribute; to deal out.

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.