oakum
(noun) 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
Source: WordNet® 3.1
oakum (countable and uncountable, plural oakums)
A material, consisting of tarred fibres, used to caulk or pack joints in plumbing, masonry, and wooden shipbuilding.
The coarse portion separated from flax or hemp in hackling.
• (flax or hemp fibers separated in hackling): tow, hards
• Okuma
Source: Wiktionary
Oak"um, n. Etym: [AS. acumba; pref. er-, Goth. us-, orig. meaning, out) + cemban to comb, camb comb. See Comb.]
1. The material obtained by untwisting and picking into loose fiber old hemp ropes; -- used for calking the seams of ships, stopping leaks, etc.
2. The coarse portion separated from flax or hemp in nackling. Knight. White oakum, that made from untarred rope.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
3 July 2025
(noun) the faculty through which the external world is apprehended; “in the dark he had to depend on touch and on his senses of smell and hearing”
According to Guinness World Records, on 25 September 2016, the Birla Institute of Management Technology (India) in Uttar Pradesh, India, constructed the largest coffee cups pyramid consisting of 23,821 cups. They used paper takeaway coffee cups to build the pyramid.
