pisé

American  

[pee-zey] / piˈzeɪ /

noun

1. rammed earth.

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pisé British  

/ ˈpiːzeɪ /

noun

1. Also called: pisé de terre.  rammed earth or clay used to make floors or walls

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Etymology

Origin of pisé

1790–1800; < French, noun use of past participle of piser to beat down (earth) < Latin pīsāre, pīnsere to pound, stamp down

Example Sentences

Soil of a medium quality, that is neither very stiff nor very sandy, is considered best adapted for pisé.

From Cottage Building in Cob, Pisé, Chalk and Clay a Renaissance (2nd edition) by Williams-Ellis, Clough

With no other knowledge of pisé it is only natural to condemn it because of such specimens, but under similar circumstances other better-known 82 building materials of proved excellence would also be condemned.

From Cottage Building in Cob, Pisé, Chalk and Clay a Renaissance (2nd edition) by Williams-Ellis, Clough

The stability of pisé buildings is beyond question, as is proved by the following instance:—At Lambrigg, a second-story brick building, with 14-in. walls, and containing ten rooms, is built upon a lower story of pisé.

From Cottage Building in Cob, Pisé, Chalk and Clay a Renaissance (2nd edition) by Williams-Ellis, Clough

Some more mud on top of that, and a few hundred or thousand feet of the heavy water on top of that—and Nature’s pisé was in its making.

From Cottage Building in Cob, Pisé, Chalk and Clay a Renaissance (2nd edition) by Williams-Ellis, Clough

The slabs were of gypsum or limestone, the wall of pisé, materials which are not to be easily combined.

From A History of Art in Chaldæa & Assyria, v. 1 by Armstrong, Walter, Sir