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American Dictionary of the English Language

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Alluvium


ALLU'VIUM, noun [Latin alluvio, of ad and lavo or luo, alluo, to wash. See Lave.]

1. The insensible increase of earth on a shore, or bank of a river, by the force of water, as by a current or by waves. The owner of the land thus augmented has a right to the alluvial earth.

2. A gradual washing or carrying of earth or other substances to a shore or bank; the earth thus added.

3. The mass of substances collected by means of the action of water.

In this alluvium was found the entire skeleton of a whale.