Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A brown or black organic substance consisting of partially or wholly decayed vegetable or animal matter that provides nutrients for plants and increases the ability of soil to retain water.
- n. Variant of hummus.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. Vegetable mold. It is a dark-brown or black substance, varying greatly in composition, produced by the decay of vegetable matter with a limited supply of air. It includes the brown vegetable matter of soils generally, as well as swamp-muck, peat, etc. Humus contains several tolerably well-defined chemical compounds, including ulmin and ulmic acid, and humin and humic acid, and is an important factor in the fertility of soils. Also called
gein .
Wiktionary
- n. A large group of natural organic compounds, found in the soil, formed from the chemical and biological decomposition of plant and animal residues and from the synthetic activity of microorganisms
- n. An alternative spelling of hummus.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. That portion of the soil formed by the decomposition of animal or vegetable matter. It is a valuable constituent of soils.
WordNet 3.0
- n. partially decomposed organic matter; the organic component of soil
- n. a thick spread made from mashed chickpeas, tahini, lemon juice and garlic; used especially as a dip for pita; originated in the Middle East
Etymologies
- Turkish humus or Arabic hummus (Wiktionary)
- Latin, soil; see dhghem- in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“The word "humiliation" is rooted in the Latin word humus, which means "dirt.”
“The humus from the forests brought down to the sea through a number of rivers is absorbed as one of the main sources of food, both by the fish population in the rivers as well as the sea.”
The Huffington Post: K. P. Sasi: Fishing Communities and Politics of Climate Change in India
“If served at home ketchup, date-tamarind chutney or humus is an ideal dip to accompany.”
“Now that our population has more than 10 % North Africans we also use the peas in humus, couscous etc ...”
What are those little green almond-like things sold on the street?
“The terms humus and organic matter are somewhat interchangeable.”
“It all begins with topsoil and something called humus (not the kind you eat with pita).”
“There they are mixed with organic matter called humus, which results from the decomposition of the waste and dead tissue of organisms.”
“During this stage, particles of the decomposed items slowly turn into humus, which is the most important part of the compost manure.”
“The organic matter exists in the form of a substance called humus, which must be considered here as a source of the organic constituents of plants, independently of the general composition of the soil, which will be afterwards discussed.”
“The roots and other vegetable debris remaining in the soil undergo a similar series of changes, and form the humus, which is found only in the surface soil, that is to say, in the portion which is now or has at some previous period been occupied by plants, and the quantity of humus contained in any soil is mainly dependent on the activity of vegetation on it.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘humus’.
-
GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
-
Words build meanings from origins( et...
These come from gamma meditation ,I think.
discursive, exogenous, machinations, purportedly, sumptuous, congruity, cantankerous, incongruous, festoon, hessian, ratiocinative, stratigraphic and 2057 more...
-
Things people will tell you might be ...
Those sweet, salty, nutty, vegetably, yummy and/or hork-worthy spreadables or munchables that folks will convince you to try.
Marmite, Vegemite, vegemite, marmite, Bovril, bovril, nutella, Nutella, Cheez Whiz, cheez whiz, almond butter, cashew butter and 39 more...
-
slumry's Words
cattywampus, ingratiate, lackadaisical, exactitude, exfoliate, fulminate, circumnavigation, circuitous, debride, sidle, sequester, chicory and 1002 more...
-
caspermilktoast's Words
frenetic, farrago, fandango, ensemble, assay, emulsion, taut, winnow, ridonkulous, ginormous, frisson, idee fixe and 181 more...
-
hedges's Words
wii, crepuscule, adumbrate, concatenation, sufi, qawwali, furry, riot, mellifluous, conspiracy, etymology, tea cozy and 369 more...
-
bertilak's Words
antidisestablishm..., feldercarb, wainscoting, eleemosynary, oxymoron, fuliginous, libration, lammergeier, saxifrage, ichor, lambent, smaragdine and 414 more...
-
mandarine's Words
antepenultimate, metonymy, synecdoche, pop, kern, inherit, clique, scrumptious, macerate, murmur, kerning, veranda and 1068 more...
-
ash
ash
abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abide, abject, abjure and 4874 more...
-
GRE uncommon
patronage, expletive, exhort, exegesis, execrable, excommunicate, evince, escarpment, ersatz, ergo, epoxy, snare and 1202 more...
-
tongue tippers
the ones that are just on the tip of the tongue, the ones that should be made celebrated members of my vocabulary, thank you
natant, prurient, antipodal, puerile, equipoise, choler, sui generis, exemplary, lodestar, rhetoric, bon mot, adjudicate and 91 more...
-
Day Day Up
spurn, underscore, bode, anecdotal, phenomenal, straddle, epic, redux, unspool, rhetoric, censor, savvy and 38 more...
-
Korniko's Words
quixotic, existential, archaic, black, cheap, laser, jungle, tropical, listed, festive, survey, blind and 87 more...
-
wendell berry
words from WB's writing, typical of his concerns
hill, valley, creek, house, town, river, bottoms, upland, remember, recollection, place, mechanization and 39 more...
-
set 11
dutiful, factotum, waif, seminal, sleazy, exacting, anodyne, bland, cozen, assay, falter, pontificial and 47 more...
-
Vocab 4 Dec
erratic, temperament, leery, condole, disbar, sleek, humus, curtail, eschew, bullish, bearish, knave and 8 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for humus.
bilby I come with pita bread to save you. Jul 19, 2008
brtom The humus stood dark and heavy over them once; the plow was its doom. Wendell Berry "A Native Hill" Jul 19, 2008