Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Partially decomposed vegetable matter, usually mosses, found in bogs and used as fertilizer and fuel.
from The Century Dictionary.
- An obsolete variant of
pet . - noun Partly decomposed vegetable matter, produced under various conditions of climate and topography, and of considerable importance in certain regions as fuel.
- noun A small block of peat-bog or -moss, resembling an ordinary brick in shape, cut and dried for fuel.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun obsolete A small person; a pet; -- sometimes used contemptuously.
- noun A substance of vegetable origin, consisting of roots and fibers, moss, etc., in various stages of decomposition, and found, as a kind of turf or bog, usually in low situations, where it is always more or less saturated with water. It is often dried and used for fuel.
- noun a bog containing peat; also, peat as it occurs in such places; peat moss.
- noun (Bot.) Moss of the genus Sphagnum, which often grows abundantly in boggy or peaty places.
- noun [Scot.] the reek or smoke of peat; hence, also, the peculiar flavor given to whisky by being distilled with peat as fuel.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun partially carbonized vegetable matter saturated with water; can be used as a fuel when dried
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Also on hand, the rosemary, in peat pots, popped back into the shade because of the ferocious heat today.
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A line about the distinctive smell of Irish peat is used twice.
June Books 4) Agatha Heterodyne and the Heirs of the Storm, by Kaja and Phil Foglio nwhyte 2010
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The river is dark with peat from the fell, curlews are calling with nothing to tell.
Make This My Default Location (I) : Ange Mlinko : Harriet the Blog : The Poetry Foundation 2007
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The word peat has its roots in the Old Celtic root word pett - meaning piece in reference to a piece of peat that had been cut from a bog.
Peat 2008
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-- By mere convention, we call the peat which accumulated in the
Scientific American Supplement, No. 362, December 9, 1882 Various
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Others probably come more properly under the common name peat, as the mixed earthy matter is too small to be cultivated without the addition of earthy matter, and have remained in situ, and undisturbed since their seeds took root.
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She fed the pigs, herded the cattle, assisted in planting potatoes and digging peat from the bog, and was undisputed mistress of the poultry-yard.
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Pine-apples are sometimes grown without pots, in peat soil, through which pipes of hot water are carried so as to heat the earth to 95°, while the atmosphere is kept moist, and decayed leaves are laid on the surface and drawn up round the plants.
The Lady's Country Companion: or, How to Enjoy a Country Life Rationally Jane 1845
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The peat is scattered on the spill and absorbs the oil, and, because it doesn’t absorb water, it can then simply be scooped out — taking the toxic oil with it.
2010 April | Inhabitat - Green Design Will Save the World 2010
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And with that, doesn’t it seem like the long lines become a little more rough hewn, like sea bleached beams, and have also something of the dark things preserved in peat bogs?
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