oakum

Loose hemp or jute fiber, sometimes treated with tar, creosote, or asphalt, used chiefly for caulking seams in wooden ships and packing pipe joints.

The coarse part separated from flax or hemp in hackling; tow.

Junk or old ropes untwisted, and picked into loose fibers resembling tow: used for calking the seams of ships, stopping leaks, etc. That made from untarred ropes is called white oakum.

The material obtained by untwisting and picking into loose fiber old hemp ropes; — used for calking the seams of ships, stopping leaks, etc.

The coarse portion separated from flax or hemp in nackling.

that made from untarred rope.

A material, consisting of tarred fibres, used to caulk or pack joints in plumbing, masonry, and wooden shipbuilding.

loose hemp or jute fiber obtained by unravelling old ropes; when impregnated with tar it was used to caulk seams and pack joints in wooden ships