berm

Definition

A narrow ledge or shelf, as along the top or bottom of a slope.

Etymology

From Dutch berm (“strip of roadside grass, verge”), probably via French berme, from Middle Dutch barm, baerm, barem (“verge, bank”), from Old Dutch *barm, from Proto-West Germanic *barm, from Proto-Germanic *barmaz (“edge, border, seam”).

Example Sentences

• "The big canals in Europe, in Holland, have a great big berm on the side of the canal several feet wide, which they leave there on purpose to plant reeds in, so as to get a reedy vegetation to protect their slope. Then, beyond that, there is an earthen slope that is grassed and sodded."
• "On some beaches, the berm grows higher in summer and flattens out in the rougher winter seas."
• "A berm separates the Moroccan-controlled and Polisario-controlled parts of Western Sahara."