oakum (okum)

[Formerly also occam, ockam, and more prop. ocum, okum; For this Nut (which is as bigge as an Estridge egge) hath two sorts of huskes, as our Walnuts, whereof the uppermost is hairy (like hempe), of which they make Occam and Cordage, of the other shell they make drinking-cups. Purchas , Pilgrimage, p. 506. oakum All would sink But for the ocum caulked in every chink. John Taylor, Works (1630), III. 66.