silt (silt)

[ME. silte, erroneously cilte; with formative -t, In long proce of time the silt and sands shall..... choke and shallow the sea. Sir T. Browne, Tracts, xii. Oh, that its waves were flowing over me! Oh, that I saw its grains of yellow silt Roll tumbling in the current o'er my head! M. Arnold , Sohrab and Rustum. silt (silt), v. [ silt , n.] I. trans . To choke, fill, or obstruct with silt or mud: commonly with up . Like a skilful engineer, who perceives how he could, fifty years earlier, have effectually preserved an important harbour which is now irrecoverably silted up . Whately, Annotations on Bacon's E ays (ed. 1887), p. 223. II. in trans. 1. To percolate through crevices; ooze, as water carrying fine sediment. 2. To become obstructed or choked with silt or sediment: with up . During the dry months the Hugli silts uр .