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Synonyms

loess

American  
[loh-es, les, luhs] / ˈloʊ ɛs, lɛs, lʌs /

noun

  1. a loamy deposit formed by wind, usually yellowish and calcareous, common in the Mississippi Valley and in Europe and Asia.

loess British  
/ ˈləʊɪs, lœs, ləʊˈɛsɪəl /

noun

  1. a light-coloured fine-grained accumulation of clay and silt particles that have been deposited by the wind

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
loess Scientific  
/ lō′əs,lĕs,lŭs /

  1. A very fine grained silt or clay, thought to have formed as the result of grinding by glaciers and to have been deposited by the wind. Most loess is believed to have originated during the Pleistocene Epoch from areas of land covered by glaciers and from desert surfaces.

Other Word Forms

  • loessal adjective
  • loessial adjective

Etymology

Origin of loess

1825–35; < German Löss < Swiss German lösch loose, slack ( sch taken as a dial. equivalent of German s ), akin to German lose loose

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.