Jump to:

• culm
  culm

  noun

  coal dust; slack.
• Culm
  Culm

  noun

  a formation consisting mainly of shales and sandstone deposited during the Carboniferous period in parts of Europe

culm

¹ American  

[kuhlm] / kʌlm /

noun

1. coal dust; slack.

2. anthracite, especially of inferior grade.

---

culm ² American  

[kuhlm] / kʌlm /

noun

1. a stem or stalk, especially the jointed and usually hollow stem of grasses.

---

verb (used without object)

1. to grow or develop into a culm.

culm ¹ British  

/ kʌlm /

noun

1. coal-mine waste

2. inferior anthracite

---

culm ² British  

/ kʌlm /

noun

1. the hollow jointed stem of a grass or sedge

---

Culm ³ British  

noun

1. a formation consisting mainly of shales and sandstone deposited during the Carboniferous period in parts of Europe

---

culm Scientific  

/ kŭlm /

1. The stem of a grass or similar plant.

---

Etymology

Origin of culm¹

1300–50; Middle English colme, probably equivalent to col coal + -m suffix of uncertain meaning (compare -m in Old English fæthm fathom, wæstm growth)

Origin of culm²

1650–60; < Latin culmus stalk; akin to calamus, haulm

Example Sentences

“It could also be a culm bank where they put all the refuse of the coal industry. It does look like there are trees growing on it.”

From Seattle Times • Dec. 25, 2017

As far as DEP is concerned, reprocessing coal from culm banks is a benefit: It mitigates a hazard, as well as the environmental issues, Stefanko said.

From Washington Times • Jun. 6, 2015

Hard coal diggings had scarred Scranton's hills and undermined its streets; the exhausted mines threatened to cave in the whole economy of the polyglot community among the culm dumps of Northeastern Pennsylvania.

From Time Magazine Archive

Thence the roadbed becomes a chute between cliffs, trees, coal tupples and culm banks into Wilkes-Barre,† on the Susquehanna River.

From Time Magazine Archive

He had increased the number of his team, and still travelled the country round with culm and peat, and clay and lime.

From The Making of William Edwards or The Story of the Bridge of Beauty by Banks, Mrs. G. Linnaeus