aim, aime, ayme

t. & i. [O. Fr. esmer =to aim or level at, to make an offer to strike, .; also to purpose, determine, intend (Cotgrave). Prov. esmar = to calculate, to reckon, aesmar, azesmar, adesmar, adestimar = to calculate to prepare; estimar = to reckon; Lat. æstimo.] A. Transitive: To direct by means of the eye to a particular spot against which one desires to hurl or propel a mi ile. ( Lit. & fig .) "A knotty stake then aiming at his head, Down dropp'd he groaning, and the spirit fled." Pope : Homer's Ody ey, bk. xiv. "Another vote still more obviously aimed at the House of Stair speedily followed."-Macaulay: Hist. Eng . , ch. xiii. B. Intransitive : I. Lit. So to direct a mi ile or other weapon as, if po ible, to make it strike a particular spot. "Who gave him strength to sling, And skill to aim aright." Cowper: Olney Hymns, Jehovah Ni i. II. Figuratively : 1. To seek to obtain a particular object of desire. 44 IMG:content-0305.png:[blocks in formation] IMG:content-0306.jpg:[graphic] plural. "Disgusted, therefore, or appall'd by aims Of fiercer zealots," Words worth: Excursion, bk. iii. "On the Historic Aims of Homer."- Gladstone . Studies on Homer , § 1. 21. * To cry aim (Archery): To encourage the archers by crying out "Aim" when they were about to shoot. Hence it came to be used for to applaud or encourage, in a general sense. (Nares: Glo ary .) "It ill beseems this presence to cry aim To these ill-tuned repetitions. Shakesp.: K. John, ii. 1. "To it, and we'll cry aim." Beaumont & Fletcher: False One. * To give aim ( Archery ): To stand within a convenient distance from the butts, to inform the archers how near their arrows fell to the mark; whether on one side or the other, beyond, or short of it. ( Nares : Glo ary.) but I myself give aim thus: wide, four bows; short, three and a half." - Middle ton: Spanish Gypsey, ii.