culm
Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word culm. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word culm, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say culm in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word culm you have here. The definition of the word culm will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition ofculm, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
See also: Culm
English
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /kʌlm/
Audio (Southern England): (file) - Rhymes: -ʌlm
Etymology 1
From Middle English culme, colme (“fragments of coal”), of uncertain origin. Probably from Old English *colm, related to Old English col (“coal”). Alternatively, perhaps from Welsh cwlm (“knot or tie”), applied to this species of coal, which is much found in balls or knots in some parts of Wales.
Noun
culm (countable and uncountable, plural culms)
- Waste coal, used as a poor quality fuel; slack.
- Hypernym: spoils
- 1887, Homer Greene, chapter XXI, in Burnham Breaker:
- Here he lay down on a place soft with culm, to take his contemplated rest, and, before he was aware of it, sleep had descended on him, overpowered him, and bound him fast.
- Anthracite, especially when found in small masses.
Derived terms
Etymology 2
Borrowed from Latin culmus. Doublet of calame, calamus, and haulm; further related to caramel, chalumeau and shawm.
Noun
culm (plural culms)
- (botany) The stem of a plant, especially of grass or sedge.
- 1962, Vladimir Nabokov, Pale Fire, page 150:
- […] because, upon hearing him out, she sank down on the lawn in an impossible posture, examining a grass culm and frowning, he had taken his words back at once; […]
Derived terms
Translations
stem of a grass or sedge