peat1

[peet] /pit/
noun
1.
a highly organic material found in marshy or damp regions, composed of partially decayed vegetable matter: it is cut and dried for use as fuel.
2.
such vegetable matter used as fertilizer or fuel.
Origin
1300-50; Middle English pete (compare Anglo-Latin peta) < ?

peat2

[peet] /pit/
noun, Obsolete
1.
a merry young girl; darling (used as a term of endearment).
Origin
1560-70; origin uncertain
Examples from the web for peat
  • It brought about the use of peat and coal as alternate sources of energy.
  • Scientists have found that these mangroves are built on top of ten or twelve meters of solid peat.
  • Note that plants in peat pots receive a slightly different treatment.
  • They cut their peat from the high ridge and harvested fish from the sea.
  • One, put your peat pots on a tray of some sort so you can water them from the bottom uniformly.
  • Tendrils of smoke curled from the peat ground cover and floated into the chrome yellow sky.
  • Each depended on local sources for its water, harvested nearby peat for fuel and grew and malted its own barley.
  • Sow them in small peat pots using a seed-starting medium.
  • And hangs above the valley-roofs, filmed blue with burning peat.
  • peat and moor have made way for pasture and tillage.
British Dictionary definitions for peat

peat1

/piːt/
noun
1.
  1. a compact brownish deposit of partially decomposed vegetable matter saturated with water: found in uplands and bogs in temperate and cold regions and used as a fuel (when dried) and as a fertilizer
  2. (as modifier): peat bog
2.
a piece of dried peat for use as fuel
Derived Forms
peaty, adjective
Word Origin
C14: from Anglo-Latin peta, perhaps from Celtic; compare Welsh peth thing

peat2

/piːt/
noun
1.
(archaic, derogatory) a person, esp a woman
2.
(obsolete) a term of endearment for a girl or woman
Word Origin
C16: of uncertain origin
Word Origin and History for peat
n.

c.1200, in Scottish Latin, of unknown origin, probably from a Celtic root *pett- (cf. Cornish peyth, Welsh peth "quantity, part, thing," Old Irish pet, Breton pez "piece"). The earliest sense is not of the turf but of the cut piece of it, and the Celtic root may be connected to that of piece.

peat in Science
peat
  (pēt)   
Partially decayed vegetable matter, especially peat moss, found in bogs. The low levels of oxygen and the acidic environment in bogs prevent the degradation of peat. Peat is burned as fuel and also used as fertilizer. See more at bog.
Slang definitions & phrases for peat

peat

Related Terms

pete