oakum

Etymology

used for caulking.]] From Late Middle English okom, okome (“oakum”) [and other forms], from Old English ācumba (“oakum”, literally “that which has been combed out, off-combings”) [and other forms], from ācemban (“to comb out”), from Proto-Germanic *uz- (from Proto-Indo-European *ud-s-, *ūd- (“out; up”), or *h₂ew- (“away from, off”)) + *kambijaną (“to comb”) (ultimately from *ǵómbʰos (“row of teeth; tooth; peg”), *ǵembʰ- (“nail; tooth; to gnaw through; to pierce”)). See also out and comb.

noun

1. Coarse fibres separated by hackling from flax or hemp when preparing the latter for spinning.
2. Fibres chiefly obtained by untwisting old rope, which are used to caulk or pack gaps between boards of wooden ships and joints in masonry and plumbing, and sometimes for dressing wounds.
   It vvas reſolved hovvever to proceed on our Voyage, vvhich vve did for ten Days, in hopes by the Oakums ſvvelling the Leak might grovv leſs; but to our great Surpriſe, after very hard VVeather near Porto Bello, and not being able to reach it, it increaſed to double the Quantity. 1740 March 18 (date written; Gregorian calendar), W. Richardson, “A Letter from Jamaica, by the Author of that in p. 144”, in Sylvanus Urban [pseudonym; Edward Cave], editor, The Gentleman’s Magazine: Or, Monthly Intelligencer, London: […] F. Cave, jun.,[…], published June 1740, →OCLC, page 300, column 1
   On the 24th of November, the plaintiff wrote the following reply, addressing it to George Havelock:– "Yours containing order for oakums came duly to hand. As it will take three or four days before the white oakum arrives here, we cannot till after that time supply the same. All will be forwarded together. The price of white and brown oakum will be 30s. per cwt. Yours, &c., W. H. Douglas and Co." 17 January 1856, “Douglas v. Watson”, in Chauncey Smith, editor, English Reports in Law and Equity:[…], volume XXXIV, Boston, Mass.: Little, Brown and Company, →OCLC, page 448
   Shingle Tiles make a Leak-Proof roof without the use of cements and spun oakums. 1912, “The Murray Roofing Tile Company”, in Sweet’s Catalogue of Building Construction for 1912[…], New York, N.Y.: The Architectural Record Co., →OCLC, page 507
   My eyesight began to fail, from the strain of picking oakum in my cell. 1983, Peter Ackroyd, “4 October 1900”, in The Last Testament of Oscar Wilde, London, New York, N.Y.: Penguin Books, published 1993, page 154
   Earlier that morning he had gotten the oakum ready for the deck, soaking the hemp in pine tar. 7 June 2016, Yaa Gyasi, “Kojo”, in Homegoing, New York, N.Y.: Alfred A[braham] Knopf, published June 2017, page 116