loam

See also: Loam

English
Three layers of subsurface loam; surface layer is dark brown fine sandy loam, subsurface layer is pale brown fine sandy loam, subsoil is red clay loam and sandy clay loam.
Soil types by clay, silt and sand composition as used by the United States Department of Agriculture

Etymology

From Middle English lome, lame, lam, from Old English lām (“clay, mud, mire, earth”), from Proto-West Germanic *laim, from Proto-Germanic *laimaz, *laimô (“clay”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂leyH- (“to smear”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Leem (“loam”), West Frisian liem (“loam”), Dutch leem (“loam”), German Lehm (“loam”). Related also to lime.

Pronunciation
  • (UK) IPA(key): /ləʊm/
  • (US) IPA(key): /loʊm/, (dialectal) /lum/, /lʊm/[1]
  • Rhymes: -əʊm, -uːm
  • Audio (US)(file)

Noun

loam (countable and uncountable, plural loams)

  1. (geology) A type of soil; an earthy mixture of sand, silt and clay, with organic matter to which its fertility is chiefly due.
  2. (metalworking) A mixture of sand, clay, and other materials, used in making moulds for large castings, often without a pattern.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

loam (third-person singular simple present loams, present participle loaming, simple past and past participle loamed)

  1. To cover, smear, or fill with loam.

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “loam”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)

Derived terms
  • loamer

Translations

Adjective

loam (not comparable)

  1. Made of loam; consisting of loam.

References
  1. Bingham, Caleb (1808) “Improprieties in Pronunciation, common among the people of New-England”, in The Child's Companion; Being a Conciſe Spelling-book […] ‎, 12th edition, Boston: Manning & Loring, →OCLC, page 76.

Further reading

Anagrams

Galician

Verb

loam

  1. (reintegrationist norm) third-person plural present indicative of loar

Portuguese

Verb

loam

  1. third-person plural present indicative of loar
This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.