silt

 
Pronunciation: /sɪlt/

noun

[mass noun]
  • fine sand, clay, or other material carried by running water and deposited as a sediment, especially in a channel or harbour.
  • [count noun] a bed or layer of silt.
  • technical sediment whose particles are between clay and sand in size (typically 0.002-0.06 mm).

verb

[no object]
  • become filled or blocked with silt: the river’s mouth had silted up (as noun silting) the silting of the river estuary
  • [with object] fill or block with silt: the soil ends up silting up the stream (as adjective silted) the silted mouth of the river

Derivatives

siltation

Pronunciation: /-ˈteɪʃ(ə)n/
noun

silty

adjective (siltier, siltiest)

Origin:

late Middle English: probably originally denoting a salty deposit and of Scandinavian origin, related to Danish and Norwegian sylt 'salt marsh', also to salt