OAKUM

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does oakum mean? 

• OAKUM (noun)
  The noun OAKUM has 1 sense:

1. loose hemp or jute fiber obtained by unravelling old ropes; when impregnated with tar it was used to caulk seams and pack joints in wooden ships

  Familiarity information: OAKUM used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• OAKUM (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Loose hemp or jute fiber obtained by unravelling old ropes; when impregnated with tar it was used to caulk seams and pack joints in wooden ships

Classified under:

Nouns denoting substances

Hypernyms ("oakum" is a kind of...):

fiber; fibre (a slender and greatly elongated substance capable of being spun into yarn)

 Context examples 

When we got into the street (which was strange enough to me) and smelt the fish, and pitch, and oakum, and tar, and saw the sailors walking about, and the carts jingling up and down over the stones, I felt that I had done so busy a place an injustice; and said as much to Peggotty, who heard my expressions of delight with great complacency, and told me it was well known (I suppose to those who had the good fortune to be born Bloaters) that Yarmouth was, upon the whole, the finest place in the universe.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)