loam

From Middle English lome, lame, lam, from Old English lām (“clay, mud, mire, earth”), from Proto-West Germanic *laim, from Proto-Germanic *laimaz, *laimô (“clay”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂leyH- (“to smear”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Leem (“loam”), West Frisian liem (“loam”), Dutch leem (“loam”), German Lehm (“loam”). Related also to lime.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ləʊm/
• (US) IPA^(key): /loʊm/, (dialectal) /lum/, /lʊm/^[1]
• Rhymes: -əʊm, -uːm

• Audio (US):

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loam (countable and uncountable, plural loams)

1. (geology) A type of soil; an earthy mixture of sand, silt and clay, with organic matter to which its fertility is chiefly due.
   • c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]:

     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?

2. (metalworking) A mixture of sand, clay, and other materials, used in making moulds for large castings, often without a pattern.

loam (third-person singular simple present loams, present participle loaming, simple past and past participle loamed)

1. To cover, smear, or fill with loam.

• loamer

loam (not comparable)

1. Made of loam; consisting of loam.

• loam on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

• AMLO, loma, LMAO, malo, mola, Loma, lmao, MOAL, Malo

loam

1. (reintegrationist norm) third-person plural present indicative of loar