Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Loom

Loom (lom) , noun

(Zoology) See Loon, the bird.

Loom (lom) , noun

[Old English lome, Anglo-Saxon gelōma utensil, implement.]

1.
A frame or machine of wood or other material, in which a weaver forms cloth out of thread; a machine for interweaving yarn or threads into a fabric, as in knitting or lace making.
Hector, when he sees Andromache overwhelmed with terror, sends her for consolation to the loom and the distaff. — Rambler
2.
(Nautical) That part of an oar which is near the grip or handle and inboard from the rowlock. — Totten

Loom (lom) , intransitive verb

[Old English lumen to shine, Icelandic ljoma; akin to Anglo-Saxon leíma light, and English light; or compare Old French lumer to shine, Latin luminare to illumine, lumen light; akin to English light. r122. See Light not dark.]

1.
To appear above the surface either of sea or land, or to appear enlarged, or distorted and indistinct, as a distant object, a ship at sea, or a mountain, esp. from atmospheric influences; as, the ship looms large; the land looms high.
Awful she looms, the terror of the main. — H. J. Pye
2.
To rise and to be eminent; to be elevated or ennobled, in a moral sense.
On no occasion does he [Paul] loom so high, and shine so gloriously, as in the context. — J. M. Mason
3.
To become imminent; to impend.

Loom , noun

The state of looming; esp., an unnatural and indistinct appearance of elevation or enlargement of anything, as of land or of a ship, seen by one at sea.