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marl

1 American  
[mahrl] / mɑrl /

noun

  1. Geology. a friable earthy deposit consisting of clay and calcium carbonate, used especially as a fertilizer for soils deficient in lime.

  2. Archaic. earth.

verb (used with object)

  1. to fertilize with marl.

marl 2 American  
[mahrl] / mɑrl /

verb (used with object)

Nautical.

  1. to wind (a rope) with marline, every turn being secured by a hitch.

marl 1 British  
/ mɑːˈleɪʃəs, mɑːl /

noun

  1. a fine-grained sedimentary rock consisting of clay minerals, calcite or aragonite, and silt: used as a fertilizer

"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

verb

  1. (tr) to fertilize (land) with marl

"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
marl 2 British  
/ mɑːl /

verb

  1. nautical to seize (a rope) with marline, using a hitch at each turn

"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
marl Scientific  
/ märl /

  1. A crumbly mixture of clays, calcium and magnesium carbonates, and remnants of shells that forms in both freshwater and marine environments.

Other Word Forms

  • marlacious adjective
  • marly adjective

Etymology

Origin of marl1

1325–75; Middle English marle < Middle Dutch < Old French < Medieval Latin margila, diminutive of Latin marga, said to be < Gaulish

Origin of marl2

1400–50; late Middle English marlyn to ensnare; akin to Old English mārels cable. See moor 2

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

South Jersey achieved paleontological renown with the 1858 discovery of a nearly complete skeleton of the duck-billed dinosaur Hadrosaurus foulkii in a Haddonfield marl pit.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 2, 2025

The marl cliffs, which attract thousands of tourists every year, were defaced sometime overnight on Friday.

From BBC • Jan. 9, 2022

It shares the same Kimmeridgian marl soils as its glorified neighbor and produces some top-notch sauvignon blanc.

From Washington Post • Dec. 30, 2021

The coat is available in only one color – grey marl.

From Fox News • Nov. 26, 2021

Russell's book on the soil tells how the ancient Gauls and Britons used to fertilize their land with marl, and how the tides help to fertilize England.

From The Adventures of a Grain of Dust by Hawksworth, Hallam

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.