loam
pronunciation
How to pronounce loam in British English:
UK [ləʊm]
How to pronounce loam in American English:
US [loʊm]
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- Noun:
- a rich soil consisting of a mixture of sand and clay and decaying organic materials
Word Origin
- loam
- loam: see lime
- loam (n.)
- 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.
Example
- 1. In 1847 the farm 's founder , sir john lawes , described its soil as a heavy loam resting on chalk and capable of producing good wheat when well manured .