different between oakum vs pledget

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

English dialect word for a small plug, using -et (“diminutive suffix”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?pl?.d??t/

Noun

pledget (plural pledgets)

1. (medicine) A small flat absorbent pad of cotton or wool, used to medicate, drain, or protect a wound or sore.
2. A string of oakum used in calking.

Translations

Verb

pledget (third-person singular simple present pledgets, present participle pledgeting or pledgetting, simple past and past participle pledgeted or pledgetted)

1. (medicine, transitive) To apply a pledget to.