From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishpeatpeat /piːt/ noun [uncountable]TPHBP a black substance formed from decaying plants under the surface of the ground in some areas, which can be burned as a fuel, or mixed with soil to help plants grow well —peaty adjective a rich, peaty soil
Examples from the Corpus
peat• Nobody was hurt but the thatched roof, and a quantity of hay and peat were destroyed.• White bodies against the black peat.• Much of this is threatened, principally by peat extraction for use as compost in gardening and horticulture.• He has switched to growing them in coconut peat, however, and early results look promising, he says.• That was a time for peat fires and firelit talk, with the wind a symphony to set stories to.• Keep peat pellets or pots moist at all times while the seedlings are growing under lights.• But it was no better outside: midges boiled in clouds out of the sodden peat around the saw-bed and the timber stacks.• The one piece upper has kept my feet dry even when walking through peat bogs.Origin peat (1300-1400) Medieval Latin peta, probably from a Celtic language 