oakum (n.)

"coarse, loose fiber obtained from taking apart old hemp ropes," used for caulking the seams of wooden ships, etc., early 15c., okam, okum, 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). The first element is cognate with Old English a- "away, out, off;" the second element is from stem of cemban "to comb," from camb "a comb;" from PIE root *gembh- "tooth, nail."

also from early 15c.

Entries linking to oakum

*gembh-

Proto-Indo-European root meaning "tooth, nail."

It forms all or part of: cam (n.1) "projecting part of a rotating machinery;" comb; gem; oakum; unkempt.

It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Sanskrit jambha-s "tooth;" Greek gomphos "peg, bolt, nail; a molar tooth;" Albanian dhemb "tooth;" Old English camb "comb."

Trends of oakum

adapted from books.google.com/ngrams/. Ngrams are probably unreliable.

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caulk

The original English sense is nautical, in reference to making ships watertight by driving oakum into the seams....

stop

These words are said by many sources to be a Germanic borrowing of Vulgar Latin *stuppare "to stop or stuff with tow or oakum...

fiber

late 14c., fibre "a lobe of the liver," also "entrails," from Medieval Latin fibre, from Latin fibra "a fiber, filament; entrails," which is of uncertain origin, perhaps related to Latin filum "a thread, string" (from PIE root *gwhi- "thread, tendon") or to Latin findere "to spli

brief

c. 1300, bref, "of short duration;" early 14c., "small with respect to length, short;" from Latin brevis (adj.) "short, low, little, shallow," from PIE *mregh-wi-, from root *mregh-u- "short."...early 14c., bref, "a writing issued by authority," from Latin breve (genitive brevis)

promise

c. 1400, promisse, "a solemn pledge; a vow; a declaration in reference to the future made by one person to another, assuring the latter that the former will do, or not do, a specified act," from Old French promesse "promise, guarantee, assurance" (13c.) and directly from Latin pr

Babel

capital of Babylon, now a ruin near Hillah in Iraq, late 14c., from Late Latin, from Hebrew Babhel (Genesis xi), from Akkadian bab-ilu "Gate of God" (from bab "gate" + ilu "god"). The name is a translation of Sumerian Ka-dingir. The meaning "a confused medley of sounds" (1520s) i

camp

1520s, "place where an army lodges temporarily," from French camp, in this sense from Italian campo, from Latin campus "open field, level space," especially "open space for military exercise" (see campus). The direct descendant of Latin campus in French is champ "a field." The La

oasis

"fertile spot in a desert, where there is a spring or well and more or less vegetation," originally in reference to the Libyan desert, 1610s, from French oasis (18c.) and directly from Late Latin oasis, from Greek oasis, probably from Hamitic (compare Coptic wahe, ouahe "oasis,"

poverty

late 12c., poverte, "destitution, want, need or insufficiency of money or goods," from Old French poverte, povrete "poverty, misery, wretched condition" (Modern French pauvreté), from Latin paupertatem (nominative paupertas) "poverty," from pauper "poor" (see poor (adj.)). From e

profile

1650s, "a drawing of the outline of anything," especially "a representation of the human face in side view," from older Italian profilo "a drawing in outline," from profilare "to draw in outline," from pro "forth" (from PIE root *per- (1) "forward") + filare "draw out, spin," fro

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updated on July 23, 2019

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Dictionary entries near oakum

O.D.

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oarsman

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oat