loam
[lohm]
- 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.
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- to cover or stop with loam.
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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
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Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for loaming
Historical Examples
At the first loaming of the ship vpon the river, wee found (as was foretold us) all the Countrey in Armes.
loam
- 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
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- (tr) to cover, treat, or fill with loam
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Word Origin
Old English lām; related to Old Swedish lēmo clay, Old High German leimo
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
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Word Origin and History for loaming
loam
n.
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.
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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.
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