Tame, a. [Compar. Tamer; superl. Tamest.]
Etymology: [AS. tam; akin to D. tam, G. zahm, OHG. zam, Dan. & Sw. tam, Icel. tamr, L. domare to tame, Gr. dam to be tame, to tame, and perhaps to E. beteem. 61. Cf. Adamant, Diamond, Dame, Daunt, Indomitable.]
1. Reduced from a state of native wildness and shyness; accustomed to man; domesticated; domestic; as, a tame deer, a tame bird.
2. Crushed; subdued; depressed; spiritless. Tame slaves of the laborious plow. Roscommon.
3. Deficient in spirit or animation; spiritless; dull; flat; insipid; as, a tame poem; tame scenery.
Syn. -- Gentle; mild; meek. See Gentle.
2 other Webster entries under this spelling
Tame, v. t.
To broach or enter upon; to taste, as a liquor; to divide; to distribute; to deal out. [Obs. or Prov. Eng.] In the time of famine he is the Joseph of the country, and keeps the poor from starving. Then he tameth his stacks of corn, which not his covetousness, but providence, hath reserved for time of need. Fuller.
Tame, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Tamed; p. pr. & vb. n. Taming.]
1. To reduce from a wild to a domestic state; to make gentle and familiar; to reclaim; to domesticate; as, to tame a wild beast. They had not been tamed into submission, but baited into savegeness and stubbornness. Macaulay.
2. To subdue; to conquer; to repress; as, to tame the pride or passions of youth.
Shades of meaning
Fernald has no entry of its own for tame; he lists it under docile.
He lists it without comment; the entries above explain its neighbors.