Resembling, containing, or consisting of culm; characterized by coal dust or slack coal.
From culm + -y (adjective suffix meaning 'having the quality of'). This mining term emerged in the 19th century to describe coal quality and coal-related substances.
When miners described a 'culmy' load of coal, they were using a technical adjective that could mean either low-quality coal or contaminated coal—showing how one word captured an entire problem of coal industry profitability.
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