berm

[burm]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR berm ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

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

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

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

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

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

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)

to cover or protect with a berm: The side walls were bermed to a height of three feet.

Origin of berm

1720–30; < French berme < Dutch berm; akin to brim¹

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for berm

rim, ridge, berm, sill, perimeter, end, boundary, point, fringe, tip, mouth, side, shore, lip, peak, verge, threshold, corner, line, margin

Examples from the Web for berm

Contemporary Examples of berm

As I reach the berm of sand, tile and stucco that marked a kind of front line, bodies are being piled on carts in the street.
Who Is Behind Gaza's Mass Execution?
Jesse Rosenfeld
August 1, 2014

Historical Examples of berm

In fortification, a word sometimes used for berm (which see).
The Sailor's Word-Book
William Henry Smyth
With the help of the ladder they ascended the berm and measured the height of the wall.
Forty-one years in India
Frederick Sleigh Roberts
BERM (probably a variant of “brim”), a narrow ledge of ground, generally the level banks of a river.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 3, Slice 6
Various
In parts of Egypt the whole area reached by the Nile is included in the berm.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 3, Slice 6
Various
The minimum breadth of the berm was laid down as three feet.
The History of the 51st (Highland) Division 1914-1918
Frederick William Bewsher

British Dictionary definitions for berm

berm

berme

noun

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

NZ the grass verge of a suburban street, usually kept mown

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

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

Word Origin for berm

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

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for berm

"narrow ledge," 1729, from French berme (17c.), from Old Dutch baerm "edge of a dike," probably related to brim (q.v.). In U.S., 19c., also the name for the bank of a canal opposite the tow path.

berm in Science

berm

[bûrm]

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.

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