meerschaum

meerschaum

See also: Meerschaum

English

Meerschaum pipe

Etymology

Borrowed from German Meerschaum (literally “sea foam”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɪər.ʃɔːm/, /mɪər.ʃəm/

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪə(ɹ)ʃɔːm, -ɪə(ɹ)ʃəm

Noun

meerschaum (countable and uncountable, plural meerschaums)

1. (uncountable) A soft white mineral, chiefly used for smoking-pipes and cigar holders.
   • 1956, Delano Ames, chapter 14, in Crime out of Mind‎:

     He gazed around until on the lid of a spinet he spotted a promising collection of bottles, gin, whiskey, vermouth and sherry, mixed with violin bows, a flute, a toppling pile of books, six volumes of Grove's Dictionary mingled with paperback thrillers, a guitar without any strings, a pair of binoculars, a meerschaum pipe and a jar half-full of wasps and apricot jam.

   Synonym: sepiolite

2. (countable) A smoking-pipe made from meerschaum.
   • 1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], Romance and Reality. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], OCLC 24531354, page 330:

     The sale of part of his property cleared the rest. A large portion of his income was put aside to accumulate. Horses, pictures, wines, bijouterie, German meerschaum, and Turkish hookahs, were alike brought to the hammer.

   • 1831, Edgar Allan Poe, “The purloined letter”, in An edition of Poems‎:

     At Paris, just after dark one gusty evening in the autumn of 18—, I was enjoying the twofold luxury of meditation and a meerschaum, in company with my friend C. Auguste Dupin, in his little back library, or book-closet, au troisiême, No. 33, Rue Dunôt, Faubourg St. Germain.

Translations

mineral

Bulgarian: морска пяна f (morska pjana) Finnish: merenvaha (fi) French: écume de mer (fr) f German: Meerschaum m Romanian: spumă-de-mare (ro), piatră ponce (ro)

smoking pipe

Bulgarian: лула от морска пяна f (lula ot morska pjana) Czech: meršánka f, pěnovka (cs) f Finnish: merenvahapiippu (fi) German: Meerschaum m Romanian: pipă din spumă-de-mare

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

Danish: merskum

Further reading

• David Barthelmy (1997–2023), “Meerschaum”, in Webmineral Mineralogy Database.
• “meerschaum”, in Mindat.org‎, Hudson Institute of Mineralogy, 2000–2023.