marl

See also: marł

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: mäl, IPA^(key): /mɑːl/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) enPR: märl, IPA^(key): /mɑɹl/
• Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)l

Etymology 1

From Middle English marle, from Old French marle, from Late Latin margila, diminutive of marga (“marl”). Doublet of marla.

Alternative forms

• marle

Noun

marl (countable and uncountable, plural marls)

1. A mixed earthy substance, consisting of carbonate of lime, clay, and possibly sand, in very variable proportions, and accordingly designated as calcareous, clayey, or sandy.
   • 1667, John Milton, “Book I”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:

     ... uneasie steps / Over the burning Marle, not like those steps / On Heavens Azure...

   • 1952 July, W. R. Watson, “Sankey Viaduct and Embankment”, in Railway Magazine, pages 486-487:

     Mr. Greenshields was the contractor selected to build the embankment, and over a hundred thousand tons of marl and moss compacted with brushwood were used in its construction.

   • 1955, Robert Herman Bogue, The chemistry of portland cement, page 39:

     Important marl and marine-shell deposits are worked in Michigan, Virginia, and Florida.

   • 1976 September, Saul Bellow, Humboldt’s Gift, New York, N.Y.: Avon Books, →ISBN, page 231:

     The surroundings were unearthly. It was not a fish setting—only bare rock, no trees, pungent sagebrush, and marl dust floating when a truck passed.

   • 2004, Peter Porter, “Why Did Dante Pick on Suicides”, in Afterburner:

     Those loved unhappy shades whom Dante turned / To sticks and marl

Derived terms

• marlaceous
• marler
• marlite
• marlpit
• marlstone
• marly
• shell marl

 

Translations

a mixed earthy substance

• Afrikaans: mergel (af)
• Aragonese: salagón m
• Armenian: մերգել (hy) (mergel), կրակավ (hy) (krakav)
• Azerbaijani: mergel
• Basque: marga, tupa (eu), tuparri
• Belarusian: мергель m (mjerhjelʹ)
• Bulgarian: мергел m (mergel)
• Catalan: marga (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 泥灰岩 (zh) (níhuīyán)

• Czech: slín (cs) m
• Danish: mergel (da) c
• Dutch: mergel (nl) m
• Esperanto: marno
• Estonian: mergel
• Finnish: merkeli (fi)
• French: marne (fr) f
• Gaulish: marga, acaunomarga
• Georgian: მერგელი (mergeli)
• German: Mergel (de) m
• Hungarian: márga (hu)
• Ido: marno (io)
• Indonesian: napal (id)
• Irish: marla f, móta liath m
• Italian: marna (it) f
• Japanese: 泥灰土 (でいかいど, deikaido)
• Kazakh: мергель (mergel)
• Korean: 이회암 (ihoeam)
• Kyrgyz: мергель (mergel)
• Latin: marga f
• Limburgish: mergel
• Lithuanian: purmuo m, mergelis m
• Malagasy: sokaidîtra (mg), marna (mg)
• Middle English: marle
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: mergel m

  Nynorsk: mergel m

• Polish: margiel (pl) m
• Portuguese: marga (pt) f
• Romanian: marnă (ro) f
• Russian: ме́ргель (ru) m (mérgelʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ла̏пор m, ла̏порац m

  Roman: lȁpor m, lȁporac m

• Slovak: slieň m, slieňovec m
• Slovene: lapor (sl) m
• Spanish: marga (es) f
• Swedish: märgel (sv) c
• Tajik: мергел (mergel)
• Thai: ดินสอพอง (th) (din-sŏr pong)
• Turkish: marn (tr)
• Ukrainian: ме́ргель m (mérhelʹ)
• Uzbek:

  Cyrillic: мергель (uz)

  Roman: mergel (uz)

• Vietnamese: macnơ
• Walloon: måle (wa) f

See also

• greensand

Verb

marl (third-person singular simple present marls, present participle marling, simple past and past participle marled)

1. (transitive) To cover with the earthy substance called marl.

Etymology 2

Verb

marl (third-person singular simple present marls, present participle marling, simple past and past participle marled)

1. (nautical) To cover, as part of a rope, with marline, marking a peculiar hitch at each turn to prevent unwinding.

   Synonym: marline

Translations

to cover with marline

• French: marner (fr)
• Italian: marnare

Etymology 3

Borrowed from Nyunga maarl.

Noun

marl (plural marls)

1. (Australia) A species of bandicoot, Perameles myosurus, of southern Western Australia.

   Synonym: western barred bandicoot

Anagrams

• RAML

Middle English

Noun

marl

1. Alternative form of marle