loam
/ləʊm
/noun [mass noun]
1A fertile soil of clay and sand containing humus.A soil mixture composed of about 2 parts fertile loam, 1 part leaf mold or peat, and 1 part sand or perlite is recommended for growing African violets....
- This tough plant will grow in exposed or sheltered aspects and in acid, alkaline or neutral soil of chalk, clay, sand or loam as long as it doesn't get waterlogged.
- Lodes of ore and inches of fertile loam have little bearing on a nation's prosperity and influence anymore.
1.1 Geology A soil with roughly equal proportions of sand, silt, and clay.The soil at the experimental site is a Butler silt loam (fine, montmorillonitic, mesic Abruptic Agriaquoll)....
- Liddell silt loam is classified as a coarse-silty, siliceous, subactive, acid, thermic typic endoaquept.
- The Wellston series typically occurs on steep slopes with a shallow, acidic A horizon, while the Grantsburg silt loam typically occurs in long, narrow areas bordering or on ridgetops.
1.2A paste of clay and water with sand, chopped straw, etc., used in making bricks and plastering walls.Similarly, the 1904 workmen set molds of brick and loam around plaster casts....
- The walls of loam and natural stones are in the Tibetan building tradition, while the woodwork of the columns, facades and walls is Kashmiri.
Derivatives
loaminess
loamy
/ adjective (loamier, loamiest) ...- The addition of a high quality, loamy topsoil will improve the ability of many soils to support vigorous tree growth.
- The fertile soil is fine-textured, alluvial, loamy and free from boulders.
- Parts of the range are covered with glacial till and stratified drift deposits as well as wind-deposited fine, loamy sand.
Origin
Old English lām 'clay', of West Germanic origin: related to Dutch leem and German Lehm, also to lime1.