THYME

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does thyme mean? 

• THYME (noun)
  The noun THYME has 2 senses:

1. any of various mints of the genus Thymus

2. leaves can be used as seasoning for almost any meat and stews and stuffings and vegetables

  Familiarity information: THYME used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• THYME (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Any of various mints of the genus Thymus

Classified under:

Nouns denoting plants

Hypernyms ("thyme" is a kind of...):

herb; herbaceous plant (a plant lacking a permanent woody stem; many are flowering garden plants or potherbs; some having medicinal properties; some are pests)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "thyme"):

common thyme; Thymus vulgaris (common aromatic garden perennial native to the western Mediterranean; used in seasonings and formerly as medicine)

creeping thyme; Thymus serpyllum; wild thyme (aromatic dwarf shrub common on banks and hillsides in Europe; naturalized in United States)

Holonyms ("thyme" is a member of...):

genus Thymus; Thymus (large genus of Old World mints: thyme)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Leaves can be used as seasoning for almost any meat and stews and stuffings and vegetables

Classified under:

Nouns denoting foods and drinks

Hypernyms ("thyme" is a kind of...):

herb (aromatic potherb used in cookery for its savory qualities)

Holonyms ("thyme" is a part of...):

common thyme; Thymus vulgaris (common aromatic garden perennial native to the western Mediterranean; used in seasonings and formerly as medicine)

 Context examples 

On their first contact with water, the shells release only 20 per cent of thyme oil.

(Thyme oil and corn starch prove deadly for mosquito larvae, SciDev.Net)

A herbal-based mouthrinse containing aloe, anise, ascorbic acid, clove, peppermint, spearmint and thyme, with potential anti-mucositic activity.

(Aloe/Anise/Ascorbic Acid/Clove/Peppermint/Spearmint/Thyme-based Mouthwash, NCI Thesaurus)

A plant family of aromatic herbs and shrubs having flowers resembling the lips of a mouth and four-lobed ovaries yielding four one-seeded nutlets which includes the mints, thyme, sage, and rosemary.

(Lamiaceae, NCI Thesaurus)

In the meantime, there suddenly fell such a violent shower of hail, that I was immediately by the force of it, struck to the ground: and when I was down, the hailstones gave me such cruel bangs all over the body, as if I had been pelted with tennis-balls; however, I made a shift to creep on all fours, and shelter myself, by lying flat on my face, on the lee-side of a border of lemon-thyme, but so bruised from head to foot, that I could not go abroad in ten days.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

While these microcapsules are in a dry environment, the microcapsules remain inert and keep the thyme essential oil encapsulated.

(Thyme oil and corn starch prove deadly for mosquito larvae, SciDev.Net)

This oil is obtained from the thyme plant (Thymus vulgaris) and contains thymol, an active compound with biological activities that is widely used as a pharmaceutical and therapeutic agent.

(Thyme oil and corn starch prove deadly for mosquito larvae, SciDev.Net)

The mosquito-repellent properties of thyme oil have long been known.

(Thyme oil and corn starch prove deadly for mosquito larvae, SciDev.Net)

Researchers used corn starch, an abundant, cheap and biodegradable raw material, to develop microcapsules as a container to release thyme essential oil into the water.

(Thyme oil and corn starch prove deadly for mosquito larvae, SciDev.Net)

By using corn starch along with the essential oil of the thyme plant, researchers from Brazil and the United States have managed to develop a low-cost, biodegradable larvicide system that can kill the larvae of the yellow fever mosquito.

(Thyme oil and corn starch prove deadly for mosquito larvae, SciDev.Net)