Noah Webster
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.