Forms

crown, crowns, crowned, crowning, Crown

Related terms

head, royal, coronation, king

Explication

Crown, a word that can be deployed as a noun or a verb, is used in a wealth of different ways in Ulysses. While the definition with the largest number of uses is 8 (the coin), it only makes up one-fourth of the total uses. Many of its usages evoke the British monarchy – there are many mentions of “the crown” and the “Crown” which are both synecdoches that refer directly to British rule. More symbolically, Bloom’s “sham crown Derby” teacup – a gift from Milly – is mentioned four separate times. Crown Derby is a real English porcelain manufacturer which is still in business today.

Crown also tends to carry a spiritual association – “crown of thorns,” “saint Stephen’s iron crown,” etc. Considering this double association – with English royalty and with Christian religion – crowns and crowning seem to be tied to national (and personal) identity.

An interesting property of crown is that its range of definitions is wide enough that it can almost be considered one of the self-opposite words that Joyce often employs. Crown can be used to represent the highest power in a country (and perhaps the world), but it can also denote something as common and working class as the foam on the top of a glass of beer. Similarly, while only one person in a nation can wear the crown as it refers to monarchy, everyone in a nation possesses a crown as it refers to the top of one’s head.

Definitions and Examples

I. crown, n. (OED 1) An ornament for the head, and immediately derived senses. (also: Christian crown of thorns)

“Crown of thorns and cross.” (5.329)

II. crown, n. (OED 2) A wreath or circular ornament for the head symbolizing victory.

“And all came with nimbi and aureoles and gloriae, bearing palms and harps and swords and olive crowns…” (12.1714)

III. crown, n. (OED 3) The sovereignty, authority, or dominion of which a royal crown is the symbol; the rule, position, or empire of a monarch.

“The crown had no evidence, Mr Power said.” (6.472)

IV. crown, n.,  fig. (OED 5) Something which adorns or adds distinction like a crown; a chief or crowning ornament or achievement.

“But Gerty’s crowning glory was her wealth of wonderful hair.” (13.116)

V. Crown, n. (OED 11) Esp. in names of constellations: a group of stars likened to a crown; usu. with distinguishing word or phrase; spec. = Northern Crown

“Whence, disappearing from the constellation of the Northern Crown he would somehow reappear reborn above delta in the constellation of Cassiopeia…” 17.2019

VI. crown, n. (OED 19.a) The top part of the skull; the top of the head.

“He put his boot on what he had spat, wiping his sole along it, and bent, showing a rawskinned crown, scantily haired.” (10.636)

VII. crown, n. (OED 20) The top part of a hat or other covering for the head.

“The sweated legend in the crown of his hat told him mutely: Plasto’s high grade ha.” (4.69)

VIII. crown, n. (OED 8.b) A British or English coin (latterly silver) with a face value of five shillings or (now) 25 pence, now minted only for commemorative purposes. Hence: a monetary unit based on this, the sum of five shillings (now hist.).

“He shot from it two crowns and two shillings.” (2.221)

IX. Crown, n. In reference to the Royal Crown Derby Porcelain Company, the oldest remaining English porcelain manufacturer. (not found in OED)

“He filled his own moustachecup, sham crown Derby, smiling.” (4.283)

X. crown, v. (OED 1.a) To place a crown, coronet, etc., on the head of, as a symbol of newly acquired sovereignty or royal status; to invest with sovereignty or regal power by coronation. Also: to place a crown, etc., on or around (the head).

“…he reflected about the errors of notorieties and crowned heads running counter to morality such as the Cornwall case a number of years before…” (16.1201)

XI. crown, v. (OED 5.a) To cover, surround, or occupy the head or summit of, as a crown does, usu. so as to add beauty or dignity.

“The face of William Shakespeare, beardless, appears there, rigid in facial paralysis, crowned by the reflection of the reindeer antlered hatrack in the hall.” (15.3823)

Wurtz, James F. “Scarce More a Corpse: Famine Memory and Representations of the Gothic in ‘Ulysses.’” Journal of Modern Literature, vol. 29, no. 1, 2005, pp. 102–117. www.jstor.org/stable/3831624.

Wurtz begins by describing James Joyce’s impressions of the Irish poet James Clarence Mangan and how Joyce “seized upon” certain elements of the Irish Gothic in Mangan’s work including guilt, sin, and paralysis (105). Gothic elements, especially the figure of the ghost, are shown to “bring together several seemingly disparate strands of inquiry” in Ulysses (115). While Joyce’s modernist use of the Gothic is shown to make several innovative departures from existing traditions, references to Mangan’s ideas and influences continue to return throughout the article. Notably, a topical Mangan poem is used to transition to a discussion of one of the major Gothic threads in Ulysses: the Irish Famine. Among other aspects of the “traumatic history of colonial Ireland,” the memory of the Famine haunts the figures of Ulysses and contributes to the novel’s confused modes of life, death, and dying. Wurtz emphasizes, however, that Joyce complicates this outwards anti-English deployment of the Gothic by also focusing inwards on Ireland, particularly in how Catholicism troubles Stephen’s relationship with his mother’s ghost.

Textmarks

“Good Lord…Undermines the constitution.” (8.41-43)

“Perched on high stools…Hungry man is an angry man.” (8.654-663)

“In a dream, silently, she had come to him…Let me be and let me live!” (1.270-279)

References

“Gothic and Modernism.” Modern Fiction Studies. Fall 2000, Vol. 46, No. 3. (Special themed issue)

McCormack, W.J. “Irish Gothic and After (1820-1945).” Seamus Deane, ed. The Field Day Anthology of Irish Writing, Vol II. Derry: Field Day Publications, 1991. 831-854.

Obsessions & themes

Haunting, food, native/foreign, religion

As I’ve considered the theme of haunting in Ulysses over the semester, most of my observations have fallen into two categories: people and things. I’ve posted about smells, echoes, and metempsychosis as evocative of haunting; about Stephen and Bloom as subjects of haunting, and about Stephen’s mother, Rudy, Parnell, and again Bloom as ghostly figures. With a short paper in mind, the idea that emerges most strongly is to make the case that Leopold Bloom is symbolically represented as a ghost.

I am sort of surprised that there isn’t more identification between Bloom and ghostliness out there, because in my reading of Ulysses he struck me as the most ghostly character. In my paper, I’ll argue that Bloom’s symbolic death occurred when Rudy died (this ties into themes of hereditary confusion throughout the book and Bloom’s fixation on producing a child.) He haunts those around him: Molly, who is trying to move on to a new partner; Stephen, who doesn’t ask for Bloom’s company but is content to be haunted by an entity less horrifying than his mother. Perhaps the reason that Bloom takes such pleasure in eating (kidney, sandwich, Molly’s chewed up food) and excreting is because he is grasping for things that make him feel living. I would argue that the disgust he feels while watching the men in the pub devour food is similar to his thoughts about the obese rat in the graveyard devouring bodies – here, thoughts of food and death collide in a disturbing way for Bloom. Another aspect I’d like to explore (but could end up bringing too much to the table for a short specific paper) is Bloom’s loss of identity throughout his life. I think that the ways in which his name changes – both last and first – contribute to my sense of his ghostliness.

But what about the figures who haunt Bloom? Rudy is the most readily identifiable one, particularly in his appearance at the end of Circe—the climax of Bloom’s halluci-fantasy. The life and times of C.S. Parnell also seem to haunt Bloom (see my 11/1 post.) I think that proposing the idea that Bloom is not only a haunter but a hauntee will make my argument more complete and nuanced. It will also help tie my thoughts to the broader theme in Ulysses of cycles and the blurred distinctions between beginnings and endings.

CROWN

Forms

crown, crowns, crowned, crowning, Crown

Related terms

head, royal, coronation, king

Explication

Crown, a word that can be deployed as a noun or a verb, is used in a wealth of different ways in Ulysses. While the definition with the largest number of uses is 8 (the coin), it only makes up one-fourth of the total uses. Many of its usages evoke the British monarchy – there are lots of mentions of “the crown” and the Crown” which are both synecdoches that refer directly to British rule. More symbolically, Bloom’s “sham crown Derby” teacup – a gift from Milly – is mentioned four separate times. Crown Derby is a real English porcelain manufacturer which is still in business today.

Crown also tends to carry a spiritual association – “crown of thorns,” “saint Stephen’s iron crown,” etc. Considering this double association – with English royalty and with Christian religion – crowns and crowning seem to be tied to national (and personal) identity.

An interesting property of crown is that it has a range of definitions wide enough that it can almost be considered one of the self-opposite words that we’ve discussed Joyce being so fond of. Crown can be used to represent the highest power in a country (and perhaps the world), but it can also denote something as common and working class as the foam on the top of a glass of beer. Similarly, while only one person in a nation can wear the crown as it refers to monarchy, everyone in a nation possesses a crown as it refers to the top of one’s head.

Definitions and Examples

(n.) 1. An ornament for the head, and immediately derived senses. (also: Christian crown of thorns)

“Crown of thorns and cross.” (5.329)

(n.) 2. A wreath or circular ornament for the head symbolizing victory.

“And all came with nimbi and aureoles and gloriae, bearing palms and harps and swords and olive crowns…” (12.1714)

(n.) 3. The sovereignty, authority, or dominion of which a royal crown is the symbol; the rule, position, or empire of a monarch.

“The crown had no evidence, Mr Power said.” (6.472)

(n.) 4.  fig. Something which adorns or adds distinction like a crown; a chief or crowning ornament or achievement.

“But Gerty’s crowning glory was her wealth of wonderful hair.” (13.116)

(n.) 5. Esp. in names of constellations: a group of stars likened to a crown; usu. with distinguishing word or phrase; spec. = Northern Crown

“Whence, disappearing from the constellation of the Northern Crown he would somehow reappear reborn above delta in the constellation of Cassiopeia…” 17.2019

(n.) 6. The top part of the skull; the top of the head.

“He put his boot on what he had spat, wiping his sole along it, and bent, showing a rawskinned crown, scantily haired.” (10.636)

(n.) 7. The top part of a hat or other covering for the head.

“The sweated legend in the crown of his hat told him mutely: Plasto’s high grade ha.” (4.69)

(n.) 8. Any of various coins, originally one bearing the imprint of a crown. b. A British or English coin (latterly silver) with a face value of five shillings or (now) 25 pence, now minted only for commemorative purposes. Hence: a monetary unit based on this, the sum of five shillings (now hist.).

“”He shot from it two crowns and two shillings.” (2.221)

(n.) 9. In reference to the Royal Crown Derby Porcelain Company, the oldest remaining English porcelain manufacturer. (not found in OED)

“He filled his own moustachecup, sham crown Derby, smiling.” (4.283)

(v.) 10. To place a crown, coronet, etc., on the head of, as a symbol of newly acquired sovereignty or royal status; to invest with sovereignty or regal power by coronation. Also: to place a crown, etc., on or around (the head).

“…he reflected about the errors of notorieties and crowned heads running counter to morality such as the Cornwall case a number of years before…” (16.1201)

(v.) 11. To cover, surround, or occupy the head or summit of, as a crown does, usu. so as to add beauty or dignity.

“The face of William Shakespeare, beardless, appears there, rigid in facial paralysis, crowned by the reflection of the reindeer antlered hatrack in the hall.” (15.3823)

“You had to come back. That haunting sense kind of drew you.” (16.1331-2)

This pair of line occurs in the middle of a section of what appears to be Bloom’s disorganized thoughts about the rise and fall of Charles Parnell. Parnell politically symbolizes a unified, independent Ireland (reflected in Eumaeus with Bloom’s memory of “Insuppressible or was it United Ireland” 1334-5). I consider the frequent recurrence of Parnell’s name (and it is often just his name, without any sort of ideological identification attached besides what “Parnell” evokes) is a kind of haunting in Ulysses. It’s a collective haunting for the nation of Ireland, a memory of what could have been that refuses to go away completely but doesn’t seem powerful or present enough to affect real change.

The adultery scandal that caused the decline of Parnell’s political career is also a major aspect of his presence in Ulysses. A page after the quote I selected, Bloom thinks: “it was simply a case of the husband not being up to the scratch, with nothing in common between them beyond the name, and then a real man arriving on the scene, strong to the verge of weakness, falling a victim to her siren charms…” (16.1379-1383). Do you think Bloom is consciously comparing himself to Parnell’s mistress’s husband, or is he oblivious enough not to realize that this is his exact situation? In his imagined scenario, infidelity is justified or at least considered a natural outcome. Interestingly, the parallel between these two cases imagines Blazes Boylan as Parnell, and while Bloom hates Boylan to the extent of fearing his name, he seems to admire Parnell (though maybe this should be examined more closely.)

Circe has actually been my favorite episode of Ulysses so far, and in trying to figure out why, I’ve arrived at the tentative conclusion that it’s because it just goes places the rest of the book hints at but doesn’t develop explicitly. Perhaps the most memorable examples of this trend are sexual (the Bella/Bello/Bloom scene; the Blazes/Molly/Bloom keyhole scene) but I want to draw attention to how representations of haunting and ghosts in Circe are outrageously portrayed as well. When Stephen’s mother appears (4157), she is depicted in a far more bodily disgusting way than ever before. Pre-Circe, her character was signified mainly by smells (wet ashes, flowers) and Stephen’s fragmentary, fleeting memories of her deathbed. But in this episode her corpse literally takes the stage in explicit fashion: “her face worn and noseless, green with gravemould.” This grotesque description is reminiscent of the one we are given of the Paddy Dignam-dog creature on line 1208: he is “scorbutic…putrid…Half of one ear, all the nose and both thumbs are ghouleaten.”

These hauntings don’t evoke ethereal ghostliness as much as the rotting grotesquery we now associate with zombies. I think that zombies are more visually repellant to us partially because they obey the law of decomposition (a word we’ve heard before!) They decay and are very certainly dead as opposed to ghosts who tend to appear as transparent but pristine versions of themselves, or formless altogether. In Circe, we are forced to reckon with the awful reality of death and the inevitable decomposition of our body, our most vital possession. What Circe expresses that previous depictions of ghosts in Ulysses have not is that we are all going to look as gross as Stephen’s mother one day. (See the excellent horror movie An American Werewolf in London for a cinematic depiction of haunting that achieves a similar feeling.) When we are made aware of our own repulsive mortality, an off-the-page ghost doesn’t need to exist for us to feel haunted.

A huge contrast to these two depictions of haunting occurs at the very end of the episode when Bloom sees his dead son (4962). Rudy is a “fairy,” “smiling,” “delicate,” and clad in ivory and white. In fact, the depiction of Rudy that ends this momentous episode is another one of the outfit-focused descriptions we’ve seen in other places throughout Bloom’s visions. I have a few ideas about why Rudy appears so differently than the other ghosts in this episode. Probably the best one is: while Bloom doesn’t have much emotional investment in Dignam’s death and Stephen seems to truly reckon with the reality of his mother’s death (even if it still freaks him out,) Bloom has not come close to accepting and understanding Rudy’s death in a healthy way. Whenever his thoughts approach his son in the rest of the book, he tends to change subjects quickly (like his mind hand touched a hot memory stove, to borrow a phrase.) Since he hasn’t reckoned Rudy’s death, his vision of his son is markedly not dead. He has aged like a living person would and shows none of the decay the other dead characters in the episode do. I’m really curious to whether we’re going to see more of Rudy before the ending. It would be nice if Bloom could find a scrap of closure.

I found the beginning atmosphere of Circe to be pretty ghostly and haunting. The first line of setting description mentions “will-o’-the-wisps” (3) and a gnome carries a sack of “rags and bones” (29). Everyone in the scene is transient or not-quite-there, and eerie disembodied voices echo from the sidelines. Later, Mrs. Breen refers to the area as “the haunts of sin.” (396) To me it almost seems like Bloom and the reader have entered a liminal halfway space that leaves plenty of room for fantasies and nightmares to play out. (When all the  accusatory figures begin coming forward to indict Bloom, I was reminded a little of A Christmas Carol with its cast of incriminating ghosts.)

I was really interested in the reappearance of Paddy Dignam (1204) in the form of a decaying beagle. Blamires explains the frequency of animal imagery in this episode via its connection to the men’s transformation at the hands of Circe in the Odyssey, but I want to think more about its significance. Paddy is accompanied by the “obese grandfather rat” (1256) we met earlier in the graveyard, which represents the characterization of an animal rather than the animalization of a character. This fluidity that exists between animal and human characters evokes the concept of metempsychosis, a word that repeats itself throughout the novel.

On line 2068 Lynch says “Enter a ghost and hobgoblins.” Since there are no lines or directions attributed to a ghost, Blamires takes this as a reference to Bloom. He’s been referred to as a ghost before (Wandering Rocks) and I’ve interpreted it as both a marker of Bloom’s social isolation and as symbolic of how we are told he has decayed since his son’s death. In this context in particular with the suggestion of sexual intercourse eminent, Lynch’s appraisal of Bloom as a ghost takes on a new aspect of impotence and passivity.

CROWN (line numbers forthcoming)

Forms

crown, crowns, crowned, crowning, Crown

Related terms

head, royal, coronation, king

Explication

Crown is used in a wealth of different ways in Ulysses. While the definition with the largest number of uses is 8 (the coin), it only makes up one-fourth of the total uses. Many of its usages evoke the British monarchy – there are lots of mentions of “the crown” and the Crown” which are both synecdoches that refer directly to British rule. More symbolically, Bloom’s “sham crown Derby” teacup – a gift from Milly – is mentioned four separate times. Crown Derby is a real English porcelain manufacturer which is still in business today.

Crown also tends to carry a spiritual association – “crown of thorns,” “saint Stephen’s iron crown,” etc. Considering this double association – with English royalty and with Christian religion – crowns and crowning seem to be tied to national (and personal) identity.

An interesting property of crown is that it has a range of definitions wide enough that it can almost be considered one of the self-opposite words that we’ve discussed Joyce being so fond of. Crown can be used to represent the highest power in a country (and perhaps the world), but it can also denote something as common and working class as the foam on the top of a glass of beer. Similarly, while only one person in a nation can wear the crown as it refers to monarchy, everyone in a nation possesses a crown as it refers to the top of one’s head.

Definitions and Examples

(n.) 1. An ornament for the head, and immediately derived senses. (also: Christian crown of thorns)

“Crown of thorns and cross.”

(n.) 2. A wreath or circular ornament for the head symbolizing victory.

“And all came with nimbi and aureoles and gloriae, bearing palms and harps and swords and olive crowns…”

(n.) 3. The sovereignty, authority, or dominion of which a royal crown is the symbol; the rule, position, or empire of a monarch.

“The crown had no evidence, Mr Power said.”

(n.) 4.  fig. Something which adorns or adds distinction like a crown; a chief or crowning ornament or achievement.

“But Gerty’s crowning glory was her wealth of wonderful hair.”

(n.) 5. Esp. in names of constellations: a group of stars likened to a crown; usu. with distinguishing word or phrase; spec. = Northern Crown

“Whence, disappearing from the constellation of the Northern Crown he would somehow reappear reborn above delta in the constellation of Cassiopeia…”

(n.) 6. The top part of the skull; the top of the head.

“He put his boot on what he had spat, wiping his sole along it, and bent, showing a rawskinned crown, scantily haired.”

(n.) 7. The top part of a hat or other covering for the head.

“The sweated legend in the crown of his hat told him mutely: Plasto’s high grade ha.”

(n.) 8. Any of various coins, originally one bearing the imprint of a crown. b. A British or English coin (latterly silver) with a face value of five shillings or (now) 25 pence, now minted only for commemorative purposes. Hence: a monetary unit based on this, the sum of five shillings (now hist.).

“”He shot from it two crowns and two shillings.”

(n.) 9. In reference to the Royal Crown Derby Porcelain Company, the oldest remaining English porcelain manufacturer. (not found in OED)

“He filled his own moustachecup, sham crown Derby, smiling.”

(v.) 10. To place a crown, coronet, etc., on the head of, as a symbol of newly acquired sovereignty or royal status; to invest with sovereignty or regal power by coronation. Also: to place a crown, etc., on or around (the head).

“…he reflected about the errors of notorieties and crowned heads running counter to morality such as the Cornwall case a number of years before…”

(v.) 11. To cover, surround, or occupy the head or summit of, as a crown does, usu. so as to add beauty or dignity.

“The face of William Shakespeare, beardless, appears there, rigid in facial paralysis, crowned by the reflection of the reindeer antlered hatrack in the hall.”

(v.) 12. To add the finishing touch to; to be the triumphant culmination of.

“Davy Stephens, minute in a large capecoat, a small felt hat crowning his ringlets, passed out with a roll of papers under his cape, a king’s courier.”

I was interested by the following passage in Sirens (11.629-636)

“All is lost now.

Richie cocked his lips apout. A low incipient note sweet banshee murmured: all. A thrush. A throstle. His breath, birdsweet, good teeth he’s proud of, fluted with plaintive woe. Is lost. Rich sound. Two notes in one there. Blackbird I heard in the hawthorn valley. Taking my motives he twined and turned them. All most too new call is lost in all. Echo. How sweet the answer. How is that done? All lost now. Mournful he whistled. Fall, surrender, lost.”

I’ve already discussed considering repetition as a form of haunting, and I think that echo is an especially relevant kind of haunting repetition. An echo is a ghost of an utterance. Here it is intertwined with the language of loss and mourning. I was especially intrigued with the imagery of the blackbird in the hawthorn valley. Google tells me that cut hawthorn branches smell like decaying flesh and were a Celtic omen of death. Otherwise I’m not really sure what it signifies in conjunction with a blackbird. I did notice quite a few phrases and conventions that wouldn’t have seemed out of place in American southern gothic literature. Maybe the blackbird and hawthorn imagery hearkens to this? The text also seems to be linking Richie himself to a bird – his breath is “birdsweet” and at the beginning he “cocks” his lips.

There are…a lot of definitions for crown, so I am picking the ones that are most common or especially relevant.

AS NOUN

I. An ornament for the head, and immediately derived senses. (also: Christian crown of thorns)

2. A wreath or circular ornament for the head symbolizing victory.

3. The sovereignty, authority, or dominion of which a royal crown is the symbol; the rule, position, or empire of a monarch.

5.  fig. Something which adorns or adds distinction like a crown; a chief or crowning ornament or achievement.

With capital initial:

a. The wearer of a royal crown; the monarch in his or her official character; the supreme governing power of a state under a monarchical constitution.

b.  Law (chiefly Brit.). The prosecution, considered as representing a reigning monarch in criminal proceedings.

7. The tonsure of a priest or monk (cf. corona n.1 5); (in later use also) the fringe or circle of hair surrounding some styles of tonsure. [I find this definition particularly interesting because the adjective tonsured/untonsured is used a couple times in Ulysses.]

8. A flower or cluster of flowers likened to a crown; esp. a verticil or whorl of flowers. In early use also: †the disc (disc n. 7a) of a flower of a plant of the family Asteraceae ( Compositae) (obs.). [Note that Asteraceae is almost certainly the family of the “yellow flower with flattened petals” Bloom receives in his correspondence from Martha. Also note that there are at least 6 other definitions relating crown to flowers or fruits or plants that didn’t seem as relevant to include. There are also innumerable wildflowers, trees, weeds, fungi, etc that have common names containing the word crown.]

11. Esp. in names of constellations: a group of stars likened to a crown; usu. with distinguishing word or phrase; spec. = Northern Crown

12. A circle or halo of light seen around the sun, the moon, a shadow, etc.; a corona

a. A group of people or objects in a ring or circle. Now somewhat rare.

b.  Math. A figure consisting of the area enclosed between a circle and a larger concentric circle; an annulus.

a. The top part of the skull; the top of the head.

20. The top part of a hat or other covering for the head.

a.  Anat. The part of a tooth (in early use spec. a molar) that appears above the gum and is covered by enamel.

32. Any of various coins, originally one bearing the imprint of a crown. b. A British or English coin (latterly silver) with a face value of five shillings or (now) 25 pence, now minted only for commemorative purposes. Hence: a monetary unit based on this, the sum of five shillings (now hist.).

AS VERB

a. To place a crown, coronet, etc., on the head of, as a symbol of newly acquired sovereignty or royal status; to invest with sovereignty or regal power by coronation. Also: to place a crown, etc., on or around (the head).

b. To establish in a position of power or influence. Obs.

a. To place a wreath, or garland, or other circular ornament on the head of, in token of victory or honour, or as a decoration; to adorn with the aureole of martyrdom, virginity, etc. 

4.  trans. With with. To provide with a top or topping of what is specified, usu. so as to add beauty or dignity.

a. To cover, surround, or occupy the head or summit of, as a crown does, usu. so as to add beauty or dignity.

b. To have a surface covered or dotted with (less commonly by) something beautiful, rich, or splendid.

a. To add the finishing touch to; to be the triumphant culmination of.

b. To honour with a successful consummation or issue; to bring (efforts, wishes, etc.) to a successful and happy conclusion.

8.  trans. Chiefly literary. To fill to overflowing, or until foam rises like a crown above the brim. Now rare.

a.  trans. (in pass.). Of a baby’s head during labour: (originally) †to be surrounded by the dilated cervix (obs.); (in later use) to be surrounded by the vulval opening, without receding during contractions.