berm

[burm]

noun

1. Fortification.,  Also berme. a horizontal surface between the exterior slope of a rampart and the moat.

2. Also called bench. any level strip of ground at the summit or sides, or along the base, of a slope.

3. Also called backshore. Also called beach berm. a nearly flat back portion of a beach, formed of material deposited by the action of the waves.

4. Chiefly Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia.,  the bank of a canal or the shoulder of a road.

5. Chiefly Alaska.,  a mound of snow or dirt, as formed when clearing land.

6. a bank of earth placed against an exterior wall or walls of a house or other building as protection against extremes of temperature.

verb (used with object)

1. to cover or protect with a berm.

   The side walls were bermed to a height of three feet.

berm

/ bɜːm /

noun

1. a narrow path or ledge at the edge of a slope, road, or canal

2. the grass verge of a suburban street, usually kept mown

3. fortifications a narrow path or ledge between a moat and a rampart

4. military a man-made ridge of sand, designed as an obstacle to tanks, which, in crossing it, have to expose their vulnerable underparts

berm

1. A nearly horizontal or landward-sloping portion of a beach formed by the deposition of sediment by storm waves. A beach may have no berm at all, or it may have more than one berm.

2. A narrow man-made ledge or shelf, as along the top or bottom of a slope.

Word History and Origins

Origin of berm¹

1720–30; < French berme < Dutch berm; akin to brim ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of berm¹

C18: from French berme , from Dutch berm , probably from Old Norse barmr _brim

Example Sentences

Satellite images show that troops started to construct a massive berm - a raised sand barrier - around the perimeter of el-Fasher, sealing off access routes and blocking aid.

Read more on BBC

They constructed a 35-mile earthen berm around the city in an attempt to encircle its one million residents.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Between the outpost and the ruins rises a sand berm about two stories high and topped with barbed wire.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Earlier this year, the militia tightened its hold on El Fasher by walling it off with a sand berm, according to satellite photos published in August by the Yale Humanitarian Research Lab.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

BBC Verify says both sides in the conflict have been using berms as a defensive strategy.

Read more on BBC

Related Words

• boundary 
• brink 
• corner 
• end 
• fringe 
• line 
• lip 
• margin 
• mouth 
• outskirt 
• perimeter 
• rim 
• shore 
• threshold 
• verge