berm

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A narrow ledge or shelf, as along the top or bottom of a slope.
  2. A raised bank or path, especially the bank of a canal opposite the towpath.
  3. One of the flat terraces on the slope of an open-pit mine.
  4. A terrace or shelf of sand along a beach, formed above the high tide water level by wave action.
  5. A long mound or bank of earth, used especially as a barrier or to provide insulation.
  6. A small wall along the edge of a bench of an open-pit mine, intended to prevent items falling over the crest.
  7. A ledge between the parapet and the moat in a fortification.
  8. A strip of land between a street and sidewalk.
  9. The edge of a road.
verb
  1. To provide something with a berm

Pronunciation

/bɜː(ɹ)m/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-berm.wav LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-berm.wav

Word forms

berm berms berming bermed

Etymology

From Dutch berm (“strip of roadside grass, verge”), probably via French berme, from Middle Dutch barm, baerm, barem (“verge, bank”), from Old Dutch *barm, from Proto-West Germanic *barm, from Proto-Germanic *barmaz (“edge, border, seam”).

Synonyms

heelpath bench bench floor windrow berm besidewalk boulevard boulevard strip city easement common county strip curb lawn curb strip devil strip/devil's strip/devilstrip drivestrip/drive strip easement extension lawn furniture zone grass bay grassplot hellstrip island strip landscape zone long acre median mow strip nature strip neutral ground parking parking strip parkrow parkstrip/park strip parkway parkway strip planter zone planting strip right-of-way road allowance road verge roadside shoulder sidewalk buffer sidewalk lawn sidewalk plot sidewalk strip street lawn subway swale terrace tree belt tree box tree lawn utility strip verge

Derived words

This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.