alphabet

Oakum

Definition of oakum:

Old ropes pulled to pieces, used for calking ships' seams.

Old ropes untwisted and teased into loose hemp for calking the seams of ships.

Loose hemp- fiber obtained by untwisting old ropes: used for stopping leaks in boats, etc.

After this is done the seams between the planks will be filled with oakum and the whole ship covered over with pitch and tar, just in the same way as your father does to his boat when she lets in water. "The Life of a Ship", R.M. Ballantyne.
The middle part of the day being very warm, our mouths parched with thirst, and our spirits so depressed, that we made but little progress during the remainder of this day, but in the evening were employed in picking oakum out of the bolt rope taken from the old sail. "The Pirates Own Book", Charles Ellms.
Then I whispered the nurses to bring cotton and oakum and little cushions; made them put the cotton and oakum in small tufts, to my index fingers; and while I crooned my directions in a sing- song lullaby air, I worked in this support, gradually and imperceptibly withdrawing my hands, until I could substitute the little cushions for the force by which they held the muscle in proper position. "Half a Century", Jane Grey Cannon Swisshelm.

Egregious