Teemed

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Overflowed with an abundance of people, creatures, or things in a given area
2. Contained or exhibited a rich variety of elements or beings in significant quantity
3. Was densely filled with living creatures or people in a specific place ; had a large number of diverse components present

Etymology: Teem has three separate ancestors that merged in English, which is why its meanings look so scattered. One strand, from Old Norse "tœma", meant "to empty" or "to drain", and that sense survives in the older phrase "teem a bottle" (to pour it out). The meaning of being crowded or full comes from a different root, Old English "tēman", "to give birth" or "to bear", which is also where the idea of fullness and abundance seems to belong. A third Middle English teem meant "to be suitable" and is unrelated to the others. Because two of these senses ran alongside each other, the verb has ended up meaning both "pour out" and "be full of", a neat reversal of direction that makes the modern sense easier to understand. "Teem" is related to the adjective "toom", meaning empty or vacant, which shows how closely the emptying sense was once tied to the word.

Synonyms: abounded, overflowed, swarmed, crowded, multiplied

Antonyms: dwindled, receded, lessened, dispersed, faded