compost heap
3
2.8
- noun
- /ˈkɒmpoʊst hiːp/
- UK
:
montón de compost
- They piled grass clippings into a compost heap.
- garden's compost heap
- little compost heap
- start a compost heap
Examples
-
How many earthworms are in my compost heap?
Blog text (24) -
The street at once smelled like a compost heap.
Fiction book (1995) -
After lunch, I took the garbage to the compost heap and found that being outside made me paranoid.
Fiction book (2000) -
A compost heap decayed in a season.
Fiction book (1990) -
She looked in the compost heap.
Fiction book (1998) -
We plan to expand our single-bin compost heap to a two-bin unit so turning will be easier; just pitch from the first bin.
Blog text (12) -
Her neighbor with the compost heap was in her sixties and tended her vegetable garden with dignified stiffness, the result of two hip operations; both hips were synthetic.
Fiction book (1993) -
After collecting kitchen scraps and garden waste, I added them to the compost heap to create nutrient-rich fertilizer.
-
The compost heap in my backyard is filled with leaves, vegetable peels, and grass clippings.
-
You can speed up decomposition by turning the compost heap regularly to aerate it.
Synonyms
39
2.5
A dark, soft mixture made from rotting plants and food that helps plants grow
4
2.9
A heap of rotting plants and food turned into soil for gardens
How Decomposed
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly and compositionally derived from 'compost' (decomposed organic matter) + 'heap' (a pile): it denotes a pile of compostable material. This is a concrete, literal noun–noun construction common across languages and follows regular English compounding patterns, so a B1 learner who knows both words will readily infer the meaning.
Etymology
Compost heap shows a simple garden picture: a heap, a big pile of vegetable scraps, leaves and animal waste left to rot until it becomes compost, a dark, rich plant food. That's why it means 'a pile of organic waste used to make fertilizer'.