1. Word finder
  2. Word definitions
  3. loam

Find the word definition

What is "loam"

Crossword clues for loam

loam
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
loam
noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADJECTIVE
sandy
▪ Depending on the proportions, clayey loams and sandy loams can be identified.
▪ Though not difficult to grow, they are greedy and prefer a rich, well-drained sandy loam.
▪ Till-covered plain Derived from gneisses, sandstones and conglomerates the extensive glacial tills in Lewis have sandy loam textures.
▪ One example of a grower who has one is Paul Steer, farming 350ha of sandy / clay loam in North Lincs.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ Coarse sand or gravel with peat or loam is suitable.
▪ Cultivation: A layer of peat and gravel, or leaf-mould and coarse sand or loam should provide a good medium.
▪ In the damaged quadrant three men raked stones from the freshly rolled loam.
▪ It thrives on a muddy bottom, and therefore a base consisting of sand or loam should be provided.
▪ Propagation is done by either dividing the rootstock with shoots or by planting seeds in a container of damp sand or loam.
▪ The creek trickles pleasantly, carving away at the pale loam.
▪ Therefore a mixture of clay or loam and coarse river sand is needed.
▪ Though not difficult to grow, they are greedy and prefer a rich, well-drained sandy loam.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Loam

Loam \Loam\ (l[=o]m), n. [AS. l[=a]m; akin to D. leem, G. lehm, and E. lime. See 4th Lime.]

  1. A kind of soil; an earthy mixture of clay and sand, with organic matter to which its fertility is chiefly due.

    We wash a wall of loam; we labor in vain.
    --Hooker.

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

    Loam mold (Founding), a mold made with loam. See Loam, n., 2.

    Loam molding, the process or business of making loam molds.

    Loam plate, an iron plate upon which a section of a loam mold rests, or from which it is suspended.

    Loam work, loam molding or loam molds.

Loam

Loam \Loam\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Loamed; p. pr. & vb. n. Loaming.] To cover, smear, or fill with loam.

Related phrases:
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
loam

Old English lam "clay, mud, mire, earth," from Proto-Germanic *laimaz (cognates: Old Saxon lemo, Dutch leem, German Lehm "loam"), from PIE root *(s)lei- "slimy" (see slime (n.)). As a type of highly fertile clayey soil, it is attested from 1660s. As a verb from c.1600.

Wiktionary
loam

n. 1 A type of soil; an earthy mixture of sand, silt and clay, with organic matter to which its fertility is chiefly due. 2 (context metalworking English) A mixture of sand, clay, and other materials, used in making moulds for large castings, often without a pattern. vb. To cover, smear, or fill with loam.

WordNet
loam

n. a rich soil consisting of a mixture of sand and clay and decaying organic materials

Wikipedia
Loam

Loam is soil composed mostly of sand ( particle size > 63 µm), silt (particle size > 2 µm), and a smaller amount of clay (particle size < 2 µm). Its composition is about 40%-40%-20% concentration of sand-silt-clay, respectively. These proportions can vary to a degree, however, and result in different types of loam soils: sandy loam, silty loam, clay loam, sandy clay loam, silty clay loam, and loam. In the USDA textural classification triangle, the only soil that is not predominantly sand, silt, or clay is called "loam". Loam soils generally contain more nutrients, moisture, and humus than sandy soils, have better drainage and infiltration of water and air than silty soils, and are easier to till than clay soils. The different types of loam soils each have slightly different characteristics, with some draining liquids more efficiently than others. For food production, a loam soil containing a small amount of organic material is considered ideal. The mineral in a loam soil ideally is about 40% sand, 40% silt and 20% clay by weight. The soil's texture, especially its ability to retain nutrients and water are crucial.

Bricks made of loam, mud, sand, and water, with an added binding material such as rice husks or straw, have been used in construction since ancient times.

Loam (restaurant)

Loam is a restaurant and wine bar in Galway, Ireland. It was awarded a Michelin star for 2016.

Usage examples of "loam".

Crimson clover has highest adaptation for sandy loam soils into which the roots can penetrate easily.

Then he centered again and reached out to draw power from the crusty loam of the floor and the tree roots high above.

His crutch kept getting snagged by the thick cords that foamed over the loam.

A fat loam and a moist situation will suit this Gentian to perfection, and it may be planted with other strong herbaceous things in the borders, where it should be allowed to grow to large specimens.

II Young Hodge the Drummer never knew - Fresh from his Wessex home - The meaning of the broad Karoo, The Bush, the dusty loam, And why uprose to nightly view Strange stars amid the gloam.

Like the other knotweeds described, it enjoys a sandy loam, and requires nothing in the way of special culture.

Supplies-pots, sand, sphaguum, leafmold, loam, osmundine, charcoal, and crocks were kept in an unheated and unglazed room in the rear alongside the shaft where the outside elevator came up.

Their bones made up the wheat stalks, the soft loam under foot, the rugose trunks of shade-giving trees.

He heard the horse-hoofs by the myriads crushing down easily, deeply, into the loam, the prolonged clinking of tracechains, the working of the smooth brown flanks in the harness, the clatter of wooden hames, the champing of bits, the click of iron shoes against pebbles, the brittle stubble of the surface ground crackling and snapping as the furrows turned, the sonorous, steady breaths wrenched from the deep, labouring chests, strap-bound, shining with sweat, and all along the line the voices of the men talking to the horses.

Highest in general suitability, probably, are clay loams underlaid with a moderately porous clay subsoil.

This means that it will usually grow with much luxuriance in all areas which produce hardwood timber, and are usually covered with a clay or muddy loam soil underlaid with clay.

This means, therefore, that it will grow well in probably all kinds of clay soils and also in loam soils underlaid with clay.

Use either a top-grade commercial soil mixture, or combine equal parts sand, vermiculite, compost, and rich garden loam.

And, fronting his lonely home, For weeks together the settler sees The teams bogged down to the axletrees, Or ploughing the sodden loam.

A cool, drizzly wind was blowing in the year 52,435 when Zanna, Barong, Hugh and I took it in turns with our single clumsy shovel, half-melted as its edge had been by nano attack, to dig a place in the rich loam where we might bury Grace.