Definition of "dim"

dim¹

/dɪm/

adjective
comparative dimmer, superlative dimmest
1. Not bright or colorful.
  Quotations
  that sustaining Love / Which, through the web of being blindly wove / By man and beast and earth and air and sea, / Burns bright or dim
  1821, Percy B[ysshe] Shelley, Adonais: An Elegy on the Death of John Keats, […], Pisa, Italy: […] Didot; reprinted London: Noel Douglas […], 1927
2. (colloquial) Not smart or intelligent.
3. Indistinct, hazy or unclear.
4. Disapproving, unfavorable: rarely used outside the phrase take a dim view of.
noun
uncountable
1. (archaic) Dimness.
  Quotations
  All about me the Red Weed clambered among the ruins, writhing to get above me in the dim. Night, the Mother of Fear and Mystery, was coming upon me.
  1898, H.G. Wells, The War of the Worlds, London: William Heinemann, page 278
verb
third-person singular simple present dims, present participle dimming, simple past and past participle dimmed
1. (transitive) To make something less bright.
2. (intransitive) To become darker.
3. To render dim, obscure, or dark; to make less bright or distinct
  Quotations
  a king among his courtiers, […] who out to dim the lustre of all his attendants
  1695, C[harles] A[lphonse] du Fresnoy, translated by John Dryden, De Arte Graphica. The Art of Painting, […], London: […] J[ohn] Heptinstall for W. Rogers, […]
  Now ſet the ſun, and twilight dimm'd the ways, […]
  1791, Homer, W[illiam] Cowper, transl., “[The Odyssey.] Book II.”, in The Iliad and Odyssey of Homer, Translated into Blank Verse, […], volume II, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], page 42, line 501
4. To deprive of distinct vision; to hinder from seeing clearly, either by dazzling or clouding the eyes; to darken the senses or understanding of.
  Quotations
  And with our Sun-bright armour as we march,Weel chaſe the Starrs from heauen, and dim their eiesThat ſtand and muſe at our admyred armes.
  c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, Act II, scene iii
  Her starry eyes were dimm'd with streaming tears.
  1740, Christopher Pitt, The Aeneid

dim²

/dɪm/

adjective
not comparable
1. (music) Clipping of diminished.

Definition of "dim"

dim1

adjective

Quotations

noun

Quotations

verb

Quotations

Quotations

dim2

adjective

dim¹

dim²