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• 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.

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culm ² American  

[kuhlm] / kʌlm /

noun

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

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verb (used without object)

1. to grow or develop into a culm.

Culm ¹ British  

noun

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

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culm ² British  

/ kʌlm /

noun

1. the hollow jointed stem of a grass or sedge

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culm ³ British  

/ kʌlm /

noun

1. coal-mine waste

2. inferior anthracite

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culm Scientific  

/ kŭlm /

1. The stem of a grass or similar plant.

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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

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

culm Culm

“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

Long have there been rumors that PRC would go into the power business, using its own small grade anthracite and reclaiming culm banks for fuel.

From Time Magazine Archive

They are made from the low-grade coals, culm, slack and lignites, blended with coal-tar pitch.

From Checking the Waste A Study in Conservation by Mary Huston Gregory

For the third year running, the Environment Agency said it had restocked the River Culm in Devon following pollution in 2019.

From BBC ● Dec. 21, 2021

Culm, kulm, n. the stalk or stem of corn or of grasses.—v.i. to form a culm.—adj.

From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 1 of 4: A-D) by Various

Culm woody, at any rate at the base, leaf-blade jointed to the sheath, often with a short, slender petiole.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 12, Slice 3 "Gordon, Lord George" to "Grasses" by Various

The only doubt arises from the existence of insect remains, referred to the order Coleoptera, in the Silesian Culm of Steinkunzendorf near Reichenbach.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 13, Slice 4 "Hero" to "Hindu Chronology" by Various

Culm very stiff, longer than the leaves, 1–2° high; spikes 4–8, contiguous or separated, never densely aggregated, prominently contracted both above and below, very densely flowered, green, or often silvery-green.

From The Manual of the Botany of the Northern United States Including the District East of the Mississippi and North of North Carolina and Tennessee by Asa Gray

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