loam
[ lohm ]
/ loʊm /
noun
a rich, friable soil containing a relatively equal mixture of sand and silt and a somewhat smaller proportion of clay.
a mixture of clay, sand, straw, etc., used in making molds for founding and in plastering walls, stopping holes, etc.
earth or soil.
Obsolete. clay or clayey earth.
verb (used with object)
to cover or stop with loam.
RELATED WORDS
estate, soil, terrain, home, earth, continent, ground, plot, district, area, field, homeland, territory, beach, province, parcel, countryside, acreage, tract, nation
Nearby words
- loaf bread,
- loaf pan,
- loaf sugar,
- loafer,
- loaiasis,
- loan,
- loan collection,
- loan council,
- loan office,
- loan shark
Origin of loam
before 900; late Middle English lome, earlier lam(e), Old English lām; cognate with Dutch leem, German Lehm loam, clay; akin to lime1
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Examples from the Web for loam
loam
/ (ləʊm) /
noun
rich soil consisting of a mixture of sand, clay, and decaying organic material
a paste of clay and sand used for making moulds in a foundry, plastering walls, etc
verb
(tr) to cover, treat, or fill with loam
Word Origin for loam
Old English lām; related to Old Swedish lēmo clay, Old High German leimo
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
loam
Old English lam "clay, mud, mire, earth," from Proto-Germanic *laimaz (cf. Old Saxon lemo, Dutch leem, German Lehm "loam"), from PIE root *(s)lei- "slimy" (see slime (n.)). As a type of highly fertile clayey soil, it is attested from 1660s. As a verb from c.1600.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
loam
[ lōm ]
Soil composed of approximately equal quantities of sand, silt, and clay, often with variable amounts of decayed plant matter.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
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