I. ˈkəlm, ˈkəu̇m noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English culme; probably akin to Middle English col coal — more at coal
1. : refuse coal screenings often piled in heaps : slack
2.
a. : a shoal-water deposit of conglomerates, sandstones, and shales in which marine fossil-bearing beds alternate with those containing plant remains
b. also culm measures : a Lower Carboniferous formation consisting of such deposits that in parts of Europe underlies the productive coal measures and has the stratigraphic position elsewhere occupied by the mountain limestone
II. adjective
Usage: usually capitalized
Etymology: from Culm, division of the European Carboniferous, from culm (I)
: of or relating to a division of the Carboniferous of Europe — see geologic time table
III. noun
( -s )
Etymology: modification of Latin culmen — more at hill
obsolete : culmen
IV. noun
( -s )
Etymology: Latin culmus stalk — more at haulm
1. : the jointed stem of a grass usually hollow except at the often swollen nodes and usually herbaceous except in the bamboos and other arborescent grasses ; also : one of the solid stems of sedges, rushes, and similar monocotyledonous plants
2. culms plural , Britain : rootlets of brewer's malt often used as fodder