different between oakum vs fid

English

Etymology

From Middle English okome, from Old English ?cumba (“oakum”, literally “that which has been combed out, off-combings”), a derivative of ?cemban (“to comb out”), from Proto-Germanic *uz- + *kambijan? (“to comb”), from Proto-Indo-European *uds-, *?d- (“out”) + *?omb?-, *?emb?- (“tooth, nail; to pierce, gnaw through”). More at out, comb.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /???k?m/

Noun

oakum (countable and uncountable, plural oakums)

1. A material, consisting of tarred fibres, used to caulk or pack joints in plumbing, masonry, and wooden shipbuilding.
2. The coarse portion separated from flax or hemp in hackling.
   • 1983, Peter Ackroyd, The Last Testament of Oscar Wilde:

     My eyesight began to fail, from the strain of picking oakum in my cell.

Synonyms

• (flax or hemp fibers separated in hackling): tow, hards

Translations

Anagrams

• Okuma

English

Etymology

Origin unknown.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /f?d/
• Rhymes: -?d

Noun

fid (plural fids)

1. (nautical) A pointed tool without any sharp edges, used in weaving or knotwork to tighten and form up weaves or complex knots; used in sailing ships to open the strands of a rope before splicing. Compare marlinespike.
2. (nautical) A square bar of wood or iron, with a shoulder at one end, to support the weight of the topmast (on a ship).
3. A plug of oakum for the vent of a gun.
4. A small thick piece of anything.
   • 1872, The Eclectic Magazine: Foreign Literature

     Four — dreadfully unclad — men, carefully oiled, to protect their skin against the great heat, are moving about with long iron spoons, stirring here and mixing there, or kneading into little fids various compounds of coarse sugar and rancid butter […]

5. A wooden or metal bar or pin, used to support or steady anything.
6. (nautical, slang) The penis.

Verb

fid (third-person singular simple present fids, present participle fidding, simple past and past participle fidded)

1. To support a topmast using a fid.

Anagrams

• DFI, DIF, FDI, IDF, dif

Old Irish

Etymology

From Proto-Celtic *widus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /f?ið?/

Noun

fid m

1. tree
2. wood, timber
3. letter of an alphabet
4. vowel

Declension

Mutation

Further reading

• Gregory Toner, Maire Ní Mhaonaigh, Sharon Arbuthnot, Dagmar Wodtko, Maire-Luise Theuerkauf, editors (2019) , “fid”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language

Volapük

Noun

fid (nominative plural fids)

1. food

Declension

Derived terms

Welsh

Verb

fid

1. Soft mutation of bid.

Mutation