loam
Americannoun
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a rich, friable soil containing a relatively equal mixture of sand and silt and a somewhat smaller proportion of clay.
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a mixture of clay, sand, straw, etc., used in making molds for founding and in plastering walls, stopping holes, etc.
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earth or soil.
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Obsolete. clay or clayey earth.
verb (used with object)
noun
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rich soil consisting of a mixture of sand, clay, and decaying organic material
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a paste of clay and sand used for making moulds in a foundry, plastering walls, etc
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of loam
First recorded before 900; from late Middle English lome, earlier lam(e), Old English lām; cognate with Dutch leem, German Lehm “loam, clay”; akin to lime 2
Explanation
Loam is soil — rich soil — that is a mix of sand, clay, and various organic materials. Loam is often used to make bricks. Loam is a type of soil that's got a lot going on: loam contains clay, sand, and decaying organic substances. This combination makes loam particularly useful as a building material. Many bricks are made from loam. It can help you remember loam is used in building if you know that it’s often referred to as "clayey earth." Because of the organic material, loam is also useful as soil for growing crops. This rich soil is helpful in both building and growing.
Vocabulary lists containing loam
Can You Dig It? Words for Dirt and Soil
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Dirty Words: The Language of Gardening
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Physical Geography - Middle School
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
L.A.-based gardener Jessica White created Loam Candles for that very reason.
From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 2, 2022
Loam is not, as I once thought, a particle size somewhere in the middle of all that, but a balance of the three, all of which have their virtues.
From Washington Post • Oct. 20, 2015
Loam four inches deep will cover the roof.
From Time Magazine Archive
Loam, as litter, 239; evaporation of water from, 99; poor in fertilising matter, 239.
From Manures and the principles of manuring by Aikman, Charles Morton
Loam, a soil composed of siliceous sand, clay, carbonate of lime, oxide of iron, magnesia, and various salts, and also decayed vegetable and animal matter.
From A Manual of the Antiquity of Man by MacLean, J. P. (John Patterson)
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
