peat

[peet]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR peat ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a highly organic material found in marshy or damp regions, composed of partially decayed vegetable matter: it is cut and dried for use as fuel.

such vegetable matter used as fertilizer or fuel.

Origin of peat

1300–50; Middle English pete (compare Anglo-Latin peta) < ?

peat

[peet]

noun Obsolete.

a merry young girl; darling (used as a term of endearment).

Origin of peat

First recorded in 1560–70; origin uncertain

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for peat

marshland, wetlands, lowland, turf, soil, lawn, grass, sod, dirt, territory, track, terrain, earth, ground, moss, fen, mire, quagmire, marsh, slough

Examples from the Web for peat

Historical Examples of peat

With that, she sat down at the round table near the peat fire.
Welsh Fairy Tales
William Elliott Griffis
The room was dark by this time, and only the sullen glow from the peat fire was on our faces.
The Woman Thou Gavest Me
Hall Caine
He broke the peat with the peat-stick and kicked it into the fire.
The Shadow of a Crime
Hall Caine
There he was in the peat loft when I went for the peats, and he had it all as fine as clerk after passon.
A Son of Hagar
Sir Hall Caine
This accounts for that great pebble of peat which we saw in the surf.
The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 14, No. 86, December, 1864
Various

British Dictionary definitions for peat

peat

noun

a compact brownish deposit of partially decomposed vegetable matter saturated with water: found in uplands and bogs in temperate and cold regions and used as a fuel (when dried) and as a fertilizer
(as modifier)peat bog

a piece of dried peat for use as fuel

Derived Formspeaty, adjective

Word Origin for peat

C14: from Anglo-Latin peta, perhaps from Celtic; compare Welsh peth thing

peat

noun

archaic, derogatory a person, esp a woman

obsolete a term of endearment for a girl or woman

Word Origin for peat

C16: of uncertain origin

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

Word Origin and History for peat

c.1200, in Scottish Latin, of unknown origin, probably from a Celtic root *pett- (cf. Cornish peyth, Welsh peth "quantity, part, thing," Old Irish pet, Breton pez "piece"). The earliest sense is not of the turf but of the cut piece of it, and the Celtic root may be connected to that of piece.

peat in Science

peat

[pēt]

Partially decayed vegetable matter, especially peat moss, found in bogs. The low levels of oxygen and the acidic environment in bogs prevent the degradation of peat. Peat is burned as fuel and also used as fertilizer. See more at bog.