berm

[ burm ]

/ bɜrm /

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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.

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Origin of berm

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

Words nearby berm

Berlin Wall, Berlin wool, Berlioz, berloque dermatitis, Berlusconi, berm, Bermejo, Bermuda, Bermuda bag, Bermuda buttercup, Bermuda cutter

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2021

Example sentences from the Web for berm

Bell and Schwarber are imperiling fans in concession lines and sunbathers on remote berms with blasts far beyond the outfield fences.
This Nationals spring has been filled with happy returns. Now let’s see if they last.|Thomas M. Boswell|March 25, 2021|Washington Post
Earlier that year, heavy rains had threatened to send water pouring over the top of an ash pond’s berm at Plant Branch, which could have caused a major breach.
The Coal Plant Next Door|by Max Blau for Georgia Health News|March 22, 2021|ProPublica
When Georgia Power fired up Plant Scherer’s first unit in late 1982, water and ash flowed into a giant hole buttressed by an earthen berm that stood 100 feet tall.
The Coal Plant Next Door|by Max Blau for Georgia Health News|March 22, 2021|ProPublica
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|DAILY BEAST

The next day U.S. and British forces drove through a breach in the high berm dividing Kuwait from Iraq.
America’s Lost Decade in Iraq: A Marine Officer Looks Back|Benjamin Busch|March 19, 2013|DAILY BEAST
Risberm, ris-berm′, n. a glacis in jetties to withstand the violence of the sea.
Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 3 of 4: N-R)|Various
The section through the face of the bastion shows a demi-revetment with wide berm, and a hedge as an additional obstacle.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 10, Slice 6|Various
A pioneer swam across, hauled over a cable, and made it fast to the hedge on the berm.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 10, Slice 6|Various
The erection of the caisson was started, about the middle of January, on the rock berm surrounding the 20 by 50-ft.
Transactions of the American Society of Civil Engineers, vol. LXVIII, Sept. 1910|James H. Brace, Francis Mason and S. H. Woodard
Within a few minutes there was a very respectable earthen berm across the front of the recess.
The Golden Skull|John Blaine

British Dictionary definitions for berm

berm

berme

/ (bɜːm) /

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

Scientific definitions for berm

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.

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