outwash

[ out-wosh, -wawsh ]

noun

, Geology.

1. the material, chiefly sand or gravel, deposited by meltwater streams in front of a glacier.

outwash

/ ˈaʊtˌwɒʃ /

noun

1. a mass of gravel, sand, etc, carried and deposited by the water derived from melting glaciers

Word History and Origins

Origin of outwash¹

First recorded in 1890–95; out- + wash

Example Sentences

Morgan were busy in New York planning a 200-mile railroad to the mine from the Gulf of Alaska, Barrett staked a homestead across the glacier’s flat outwash plain.

From Seattle Times

The main reason for this was something called outwash.

From BBC

Both these changes will have the effect of reducing our ability to outwash the air coming out from under the car, but will support upwards expansion, supporting the diffuser in doing its job of pulling air under the floor.

From BBC

On this particular trip, I found myself on Central Parkway, a magnificent roadway built in the early 1900s on a gravel outwash terrace created as the last continental glacier melted some 13,000 years ago.

From Seattle Times

He points out how this “terminal moraine” versus “outwash plain” dichotomy roughly aligns with the path of gentrification, whereby the flatlands remain the province of “immigrant strivers and working-class stiffs.”

From New York Times