loam

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   fertile soil containing a balanced mixture of sand, silt, and clay, often with organic matter

   The vegetables grow well in the garden's dark, crumbly loam.

2. 2
   noun

   a mixture of clay, sand, and other materials used to make molds for large castings

   The foundry packed loam around the pattern before pouring the metal.

3. 3
   verb

   to cover, fill, or seal something with loam

   Workers loamed the joints before the furnace was fired.

Appears in

From Middle English lome, from Old English lam ("clay, mud, earth"), from a Germanic source also represented by Dutch leem and German Lehm. The older idea was earth used for smearing or binding; the modern soil sense emphasizes its mixture of particle sizes.

Topics

External links

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• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary