loam
English
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4b/Bama_soil.png/250px-Bama_soil.png)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/80/SoilTexture_USDA.png/180px-SoilTexture_USDA.png)
Etymology
From Middle English lome, lame, lam, from Old English lām (“clay, mud, mire, earth”), from Proto-Germanic *laimaz, *laimô (“clay”), from Proto-Indo-European *ley- (“mud, slime; to slip, slide”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Liem (“glue”) and Saterland Frisian Leem (“loam”), Dutch leem (“loam”), German Leim (“glue”) and German Lehm (“loam”).
Pronunciation
- Lua error in Module:parameters at line 290: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "UK" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): /ləʊm/
- Rhymes: -əʊm
- Lua error in Module:parameters at line 290: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "US" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): /loʊm/
Audio (US): (file)
Noun
loam (countable and uncountable, plural loams)
- (geology) A type of soil; an earthy mixture of sand, silt and clay, with organic matter to which its fertility is chiefly due.
- 1602 : William Shakespeare, Hamlet, act V scene 1
- Alexander died, Alexander was buried, Alexander
- returneth to dust, the dust is earth, of earth we make
- loam, and of why that loam whereto he was converted
- might they not stop a beer-barrel?
- 1602 : William Shakespeare, Hamlet, act V scene 1
- (metalworking) A mixture of sand, clay, and other materials, used in making moulds for large castings, often without a pattern.
Derived terms
Translations
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Verb
loam (third-person singular simple present loams, present participle loaming, simple past and past participle loamed)
- To cover, smear, or fill with loam.
Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “loam”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)
Translations
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Derived terms
Adjective
loam (not comparable)
- Made of loam; consisting of loam.
Further reading
Anagrams
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms inherited from Old English
- English terms derived from Old English
- English terms inherited from Proto-Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- Rhymes:English/əʊm
- English terms with audio links
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English uncountable nouns
- English countable nouns
- en:Geology
- en:Metalworking
- English verbs
- English adjectives
- English uncomparable adjectives