Breamed
/briːmd/noun
Past tense and past participle of bream, especially meaning cleaned a ship’s hull by burning or scraping away marine growth.
Did you know?Breaming was a dangerous ship-maintenance practice in which a vessel’s hull could literally be exposed to flames so fouling and old pitch could be removed.
Etymological Timeline
16th–17th Century
English
bream
“To clean a ship’s bottom by burning, scraping, or otherwise removing marine growth and encrusted material.”
17th Century
English
breamed
“The regular past-tense and past-participle form of bream.”
Modern English
English
breamed
“Cleaned or treated, especially said of a ship’s hull; also the ordinary inflected form of bream.”
Modern English
English
bream
“A freshwater or marine fish of the family Cyprinidae or related groups; the noun’s connection with the ship-maintenance verb is uncertain.”