tame Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. verb correct by punishment or discipline
    chasten; subdue.
  2. verb make less strong or intense; soften
    moderate; tone down.
    • Tone down that aggressive letter
    • The author finally tamed some of his potentially offensive statements
  3. verb adapt (a wild plant or unclaimed land) to the environment
    naturalize; cultivate; naturalise; domesticate.
    • domesticate oats
    • tame the soil
  4. verb overcome the wildness of; make docile and tractable
    domesticize; domesticise; reclaim; domesticate.
    • He tames lions for the circus
    • reclaim falcons
  5. verb make fit for cultivation, domestic life, and service to humans
    domesticate.
    • The horse was domesticated a long time ago
    • The wolf was tamed and evolved into the house dog
  6. adjective satellite flat and uninspiring
  7. adjective very restrained or quiet
    • a tame Christmas party
    • she was one of the tamest and most abject creatures imaginable with no will or power to act but as directed
  8. adjective brought from wildness into a domesticated state
    tamed.
    • tame animals
    • fields of tame blueberries
  9. adjective satellite very docile
    meek.
    • tame obedience
    • meek as a mouse"- Langston Hughes

WordNet

Tame transitive verb
Etymology
Cf. F. entamer to cut into, to broach.
Definitions
  1. To broach or enter upon; to taste, as a liquor; to divide; to distribute; to deal out. Obs. or Prov. Eng.
    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.
Tame adjective
Etymology
AS. tam; akin to D. tam, G. zahm, OHG. zam, Dan. & Sw. tam, Icel. tamr, L. domare to tame, Gr. , Skr. dam to be tame, to tame, and perhaps to E. beteem. *61. Cf. Adamant, Diamond, Dame, Daunt, Indomitable.
Wordforms
comparative Tamer ; superlative Tamest
Definitions
  1. Reduced from a state of native wildness and shyness; accustomed to man; domesticated; domestic; as, a tame deer, a tame bird.
  2. Crushed; subdued; depressed; spiritless.
    Tame slaves of the laborious plow. Roscommon.
  3. Deficient in spirit or animation; spiritless; dull; flat; insipid; as, a tame poem; tame scenery. Syn. -- Gentle; mild; meek. See Gentle.
Tame transitive verb
Etymology
AS. tamian, temian, akin to D. tammen, temmen, G. zähmen, OHG. zemmen, Icel. temja, Goth. gatamjan. See Tame, a.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Tamed ; present participle & verbal noun Taming
Definitions
  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 savegeness and stubbornness. Macaulay.
  2. To subdue; to conquer; to repress; as, to tame the pride or passions of youth.

Webster 1913