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Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. 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.
  2. n. Variant of hummus.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. 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

  1. 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
  2. n. An alternative spelling of hummus.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. 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

  1. n. partially decomposed organic matter; the organic component of soil
  2. 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

  1. Turkish humus or Arabic hummus (Wiktionary)
  2. Latin, soil; see dhghem- in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

Examples

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Lists

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Comments

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  • 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

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‘humus’ has been looked up 2964 times, loved by 1 person, added to 18 lists, commented on 2 times, and has a Scrabble score of 10.