Definition of meerschaum in US English:

noun

• 1A soft white claylike material consisting of hydrated magnesium silicate, found chiefly in Turkey.

  1. 1.1 A tobacco pipe with a bowl made from meerschaum.
     Example sentences

     • ‘The Honourable Sir Ralph Mountharten sharply rapped his meerschaum pipe against the surface of his mahogany writing desk.’
     • ‘The biggest surprise was Everett's Holmes: a compelling, brilliant, darkly original character, much closer to the original stories than to the deerstalkers and meerschaums and Basil Rathbone.’
     • ‘Well, donning my deerstalker and lighting my meerschaum I'd start at the bottom.’
     • ‘Like Dupin, Dr. Bender smokes a meerschaum pipe, filled with cheap tobacco.’
     • ‘You see him nursing a meerschaum pipe.’

     Synonyms

     tobacco pipe, briar, briar pipe, clay pipe

     View synonyms