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Glite Dictionary
oakum

oakum

1 9.9
Loose fibers from old ropes soaked in tar that workers push into gaps in wooden ships
  • noun
  • /ˈoʊkəm/
  • Archaic
: cáñamo
  • After unravelling the old rope, they collected the oakum for use in caulking.
  • picking oakum

Examples

  • The workers used oakum to seal the gaps in the wooden ship.

  • You'll begin to pick oakum tomorrow morning at 6:00.

    Oliver Twist (1948)

  • So you'll begin to pick oakum tomorrow morning at six o'clock.

    Academic text (2005)

  • Young William Stafford had been set to work "picking oakum"—unraveling old rope—at the age of three.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • The Mrtires was certainly a sturdy ship as well: the hull planking was over four inches thick and caulked with lead straps and oakum, an expensive but highly durable solution not described in any written sources.

    Academic text (2003)

  • Historically, sailors used oakum to waterproof the seams of their vessels.

Surface Forms

oakum singular
oakums plural

Etymology

Oakum comes from an old word for loose rope fiber and the job of 'picking' old ropes apart to get those fibers. Sailors and prisoners used to 'pick' ropes to make oakum and then pack it into ship seams and seal them, so oakum means the loose fiber used to caulk and stop leaks.