berm

[ burm ]

noun

1. Also berme. Fortification. 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, 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

/ bûrm /

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

The sewage breached a large dirt berm built by IBWC across the river’s causeway on Monday.

From Voice of San Diego

These would involve shipping in or dredging up large amounts of material to build up berms or artificial islands around or beneath key glaciers.

From MIT Technology Review

To cope with scarcity, farmers maintained little ponds and berms to help rainfall infiltrate the ground, storing it for a dry day.

From MIT Technology Review

I brought that firmer spring with me just in case, but I never felt like I was getting pulled below the ideal position in the berms or the lips.

From Outside Online

Bell and Schwarber are imperiling fans in concession lines and sunbathers on remote berms with blasts far beyond the outfield fences.

From Washington Post

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.

From The Daily Beast

The next day U.S. and British forces drove through a breach in the high berm dividing Kuwait from Iraq.

From The Daily Beast

Risberm, ris-berm′, n. a glacis in jetties to withstand the violence of the sea.

From Project Gutenberg

The section through the face of the bastion shows a demi-revetment with wide berm, and a hedge as an additional obstacle.

From Project Gutenberg

A pioneer swam across, hauled over a cable, and made it fast to the hedge on the berm.

From Project Gutenberg

The erection of the caisson was started, about the middle of January, on the rock berm surrounding the 20 by 50-ft.

From Project Gutenberg

Within a few minutes there was a very respectable earthen berm across the front of the recess.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

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