marl

noun

1. (countable, uncountable)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.

   “Marle is indeed, as it is in name, the fat or (marrovv) of the earth: […] it is therfore a fat, oyly and vnctious ground, lying in the belly of the earth, vvhich is of vvarme and moiſt temperature, and ſo moſt fertill, ſeeing that heat and moyſture be the father and mother of generation and grovvth; […] Foure ſorts of Marle be found in this VVeald, knovvne aſunder by the difference of colours, and thereby alſo differing in degrees of goodneſſe one from the other: […]”

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

   “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.”

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

   “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.”

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

verb

1. (transitive)To cover (the ground) with marl (noun sense).

   “[I]n this ſhort time vve haue ſeene many arable grounds, vvhich for ſundry yeeres after the marling of them, haue plentifully borne VVheat and other Graine, to be novv become vnfruitfull, and ſo vvill they continue, albeit they ſhould novv [be] marled againe. And this commeth to paſſe by the ignorance of the right manner of ordering the Marle, […]”

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