Definition of "tame" in English

adjective

1. (chiefly of animals) Accustomed to human contact.

2. (chiefly of animals) Docile or tranquil towards humans.

   • The lion was quite tame.

3. (figurative) Of a person, well-behaved; not radical or extreme.

4. (obsolete) Of a non-Westernised person, accustomed to European society.

5. Not exciting.

   • This party is too tame for me.
   • For a thriller, that film was really tame.

6. Crushed; subdued; depressed; spiritless.

7. (mathematics, of a knot) Capable of being represented as a finite closed polygonal chain.

verb

1. (transitive) To make (an animal) tame; to domesticate.

   • He tamed the wild horse.

2. (transitive) To make submissive or docile.

   • The governor tames the engine.

3. (transitive) To take control of something that is unruly.

   • Police have to tame the riots.

4. (intransitive) To become tame or domesticated.

5. (transitive) To make gentle or meek.

   • Guard dogs need to be tamed so that they know who not to attack.

verb

1. (obsolete, UK, dialect) To broach or enter upon; to taste, as a liquor; to divide; to distribute; to deal out.