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
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for loamy
Contemporary Examples
Everywhere we turn, there are loamy loins and torrents of testosterone.
Historical Examples
Clay ground is better for them than sand, and loamy soil the best of all.
The Mayflower, January, 1905Various
It is greater in loamy and clayey soils; but is still small.
Peat and its Uses as Fertilizer and FuelSamuel William Johnson
The soil should be of a slightly sandy or loamy nature, and not wet.
Loamy soil, inclined to moisture, is best adapted to their growth.
The American Flower Garden DirectoryThomas Hibbert
They are all of easy culture in any loamy soil inclining to moisture.
The American Flower Garden DirectoryThomas Hibbert
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
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for loamy
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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The American Heritage® Science Dictionary
Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.