Crossword clues for oakum
oakum
- Plumber's filler
- Old hull caulking
- Loose rope fiber used as caulking
- Loose hemp or jute fiber obtained by unravelling old ropes
- When impregnated with tar it was used to caulk seams and pack joints in wooden ships
- Caulking material
- Boat-seam sealer
- Something for tars to pick
- Hemp fiber used in caulking
- Sealant
- Caulking fibre for ships
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Oakum \Oak"um\ ([=o]k"[u^]m), n. [AS. [=a]cumba; pref. [=a]- (cf. G. er-, Goth. us-, orig. meaning, out) + cemban to comb, camb comb. See Comb.]
The material obtained by untwisting and picking into loose fiber old hemp ropes; -- used for calking the seams of ships, stopping leaks, etc.
-
The coarse portion separated from flax or hemp in nackling.
--Knight.White oakum, that made from untarred rope.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
"loose fiber obtained from taking apart old hemp ropes," early 15c., from Old English acumba "tow, oakum, flax fibers separated by combing," literally "what is combed out," from Proto-Germanic *us-kambon (source of Old High German achambi); first element cognate with Old English a- "away, out, off;" second element from stem of cemban "to comb," from camb "a comb;" from PIE *gembh- "tooth, nail" (see comb (n.)).
Wiktionary
n. 1 A material, consisting of tarred fibres, used to caulk or pack joints in plumbing, masonry, and wooden shipbuilding. 2 The coarse portion separated from flax or hemp in hackle.
WordNet
n. loose hemp or jute fiber obtained by unravelling old ropes; when impregnated with tar it was used to caulk seams and pack joints in wooden ships
Wikipedia
Oakum is a preparation of tarred fibre used in shipbuilding for caulking or packing the joints of timbers in wooden vessels and the deck planking of iron and steel ships, as well as cast iron pipe plumbing applications. Oakum was at one time recycled from old tarry ropes and cordage, which were painstakingly unravelled and taken apart into fibre. This task of picking and preparation was a common penal occupation in prisons and workhouses.
In modern times, the fibrous material used in oakum comes from virgin hemp or jute. The fibers are impregnated with tar or a tar-like substance, traditionally pine tar (also called 'Stockholm tar'), an amber-coloured pitch made from pine sap. Tar-like petroleum by-products can also be used for modern oakum. White oakum is made from untarred material.
Usage examples of "oakum".
MAY-FLOWER--of Delft Haven-- poor, common-looking ship, hired by common charter-party for coined dollars,--caulked with mere oakum and tar, provisioned with vulgarest biscuit and bacon,--yet what ship Argo or miraculous epic ship, built by the sea gods, was other than a foolish bumbarge in comparison!
MAY-FLOWER--of Delft Haven --poor, common-looking ship, hired by common charter-party for coined dollars,--caulked with mere oakum and tar, provisioned with vulgarest biscuit and bacon,--yet what ship Argo or miraculous epic ship, built by the sea gods, was other than a foolish bumbarge in comparison!
The wooden boxes in which they were packed had been caulked at the seams with oakum and pitch, like the hull of a warship.
The largest single object in the room was a box, the size of a Vagabond-shack but much more finely wrought, of oak planks cleverly joined together, and caulked at the corners with tar and oakum.
I see that Sir Benjamin Blowhard, old Grummet, poor Marlin, and Kelson, Lord Figgins, as we used to call him, Dick Dotheboys, and Oakum, have gone the way of all flesh.
The leak gained on them as the oakum of the first successful fothering worked through the leak, and the passing of a new sail was a slow, exhausting business that had little evident result: the Leopard drove eastward and a little south under small sail in a rising wind, pumping day and night.
Syn held the light while Mipps, selecting a sharp tool suitable for the purpose, began uncaulking the tight seem of oakum.
It was impossible to close the gun-deck ports so as to make them watertight, for the water would find cracks to come in at, even though the edges of the lids were caulked with oakum, and the orifices further barred by deadlights or wooden shutters.
The vents and all screw-holes are to be stopped with plugs made of soft wood or oakum dipped in tallow, after they have been protected by an application of beeswax dissolved in spirits of turpentine, or other composition that may be directed by the Bureau.
Now they rise up lead-gray in the light, slide on their bellies over tin-sheathed washtroughs, smack halfpoundly on the tile flooring, crowd around the drains plugged with oakum, try to climb up the concrete pillar and get at the brown wood.
MAY-FLOWER--of Delft Haven-- poor, common-looking ship, hired by common charter-party for coined dollars,--caulked with mere oakum and tar, provisioned with vulgarest biscuit and bacon,--yet what ship Argo or miraculous epic ship, built by the sea gods, was other than a foolish bumbarge in comparison!
AY-FLOWER--of Delft Haven-- poor, common-looking ship, hired by common charter-party for coined dollars,--caulked with mere oakum and tar, provisioned with vulgarest biscuit and bacon,--yet what ship Argo or miraculous epic ship, built by the sea gods, was other than a foolish bumbarge in comparison!
AY-FLOWER--of Delft Haven --poor, common-looking ship, hired by common charter-party for coined dollars,--caulked with mere oakum and tar, provisioned with vulgarest biscuit and bacon,--yet what ship Argo or miraculous epic ship, built by the sea gods, was other than a foolish bumbarge in comparison!
For calking the seams they made oakum of dry seaweed, which was hammered in between the planks.
And then it was that Condy and Blix, in that isolated station, the bay lapping at the shore within ear-shot, in that atmosphere redolent of paint and oakum and of seaweed decaying upon the beach outside, first heard the story of "In Defiance of Authority.