Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun See hammam.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A sweating bath or place for sweating.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A Turkish bath.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Arabic or Persian.

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Examples

  • Let no tourist, experienced only in the effeminate imitations of the hummum to be found in New York or London, expect similar considerate treatment in Algeria.

    Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science Volume 11, No. 24, March, 1873 Various

  • No sooner were the words out of his mouth than the genie rendered him, as well as himself, invisible, and transported him into a hummum of the finest marble of all sorts of colors; where he was undressed, without seeing by whom, in a magnificent and spacious hall.

    Types of Children's Literature Walter Barnes

  • The _hummum_, or Turkish bath, is partly enjoined by the Kor [= a] n and partly taken for its own enjoyment; it is a feature of every Moorish house of any pretension, and largely used by men and women.

    In the Tail of the Peacock Isabel Savory

  • Bathing is done in the hummum or in the courtyard of the mosque; of books there are none; while pictures Mohammed forbade, as inclined to lead to idolatry.

    In the Tail of the Peacock Isabel Savory

  • The last thing Hadj Mukhtar Hilalli showed us was his hummum, cunningly arranged to flank the kitchen fire at the back.

    In the Tail of the Peacock Isabel Savory

  • Every tank, fountain, and _hummum_ (Turkish bath) has its never-failing supply, gratis, from the heart of the hills.

    In the Tail of the Peacock Isabel Savory

  • I returned to Pera to take the hummum or bath, the one there being very clean, quiet, and well managed.

    Journal of a Visit to Constantinople and Some of the Greek Islands in the Spring and Summer of 1833 John Auldjo

  • The wooden pattens or slippers used by the bathers were arranged on the steps by which we mounted the stage, and I had several narrow escapes from being prostrated on the marble pavement ere I reached the small door leading into the hummum; so difficult do the uninitiated find the use of these wooden bridges, which are clumsy, heavy, and slippery as skates.

    Journal of a Visit to Constantinople and Some of the Greek Islands in the Spring and Summer of 1833 John Auldjo

  • Perhaps he would use his _hummum_ (Turkish bath); he would pray at his own particular mosque, regularly, so many times a day; and he would drink much green tea, and consume sugar, and sleep inordinately.

    In the Tail of the Peacock Isabel Savory

  • The kitchen also and the hummum are always on the ground floor.

    In the Tail of the Peacock Isabel Savory

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  • "...he spent the afternoon in the Covent Garden hummums, his sparse frame sweating in the hottest room until it could sweat no more."

    --Patrick O'Brian, The Reverse of the Medal, 283

    February 29, 2008