a. [f. LOAM sb. + -Y1.]
† 1. Formed of earth (see LOAM sb. 1). Obs. rare–1.
c. 1230. Hali Meid., 47. Alle þeo þat leauen luue of lami mon; for to beon his leofmon.
2. Of or pertaining to loam; consisting of, or resembling, loam.
1599. Broughton’s Lett., vii. 24. With this Rabbinicall rubbish … haue you laboured a lomie and sandie building.
1607. Topsell, Four-f. Beasts, 495. He [Agricola] ascribeth to the beech-martin, a loamie or red throat. [A mistranslation of quod guttur eius lutei sit coloris, G. Agricola De Re Metall. (1561), 490.]
1626. Bacon, Sylva, § 665. Mellow Earth is the best … Especially if it be not Loamy and Binding.
1720. De Foe, Capt. Singleton, vii. (1840), 118. We found the earth … of a yellowish loamy colour.
1784. Cowper, Task, IV. 437. The farmer’s hedge Plash’d neatly, and secured with driven stakes Deep in the loamy bank.
1876. Page, Adv. Text-bk. Geol., xx. 432. Its dark loamy aspect renders it readily separable from the ‘subsoil’ of sand.
† b. Built with loam or plaster. Obs. rare–1.
1658. Hewyt, Last Serm., 195. The Peasant that from his loamy cottage is carried prisoner to a stately Castle … changes his golden liberty for iron shackles.
Hence Loamily adv., (nonce-wd.) in the manner of loamy soil, Loaminess.
1727. Bailey, vol. II., Loaminess, fulness of Loam, or loamy Nature.
1841. J. Grey, in Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc., II. II. 171. The greater friability and loaminess of the soil.
1869. Blackmore, Lorna D., vii. The bank is steep … overhanging loamily.
