oakum

/ˈəʊkəm/

Etymology

From Late Middle English okom, okome (“oakum”) [and other forms], from Old English ācumba (“oakum”, literally “that which has been combed out, off-combings”) [and other forms], from ācemban (“to comb out”), from Proto-Germanic *uz- (from Proto-Indo-European *ud-s-, *ūd- (“out; up”), or *h₂ew- (“away from, off”)) + *kambijaną (“to comb”) (ultimately from *ǵómbʰos (“row of teeth; tooth; peg”), *ǵembʰ- (“nail; tooth; to gnaw through; to pierce”)). See also out and comb.

oakum means Coarse fibres separated by hackling from flax or hemp when preparing the latter for spinning. Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 86 out of 100.

noun

Coarse fibres separated by hackling from flax or hemp when preparing the latter for spinning.
Fibres chiefly obtained by untwisting old rope, which are used to caulk or pack gaps between boards of wooden ships and joints in masonry and plumbing, and sometimes for dressing wounds.“[W]ho should it be but Mr. Daniel, all muffled up, and his face as black as the chimney, and covered with dirt, pitch, and tarr, and powder, and muffled with dirty clouts, and his right eye stopped with okum. He is come last night at five o'clock from the fleete, with a comrade of his that hath endangered another eye.”