Cull vs Culm - What's the difference?

cull | culm |

As a verb cull

is to pick or take someone or something (from a larger group).

As a noun cull

is a selection or cull can be (slang|dialectal) a fool, gullible person; a dupe.

As a proper noun culm is

a german bishopric, founded in 1234.

cull

English

(Culling)

Etymology 1

From (etyl) .

Verb

(en verb)

To pick or take someone or something (from a larger group).

* 1984', cover star: JOE DALLESANDRO '''culled from Andy Warhol's FLESH — anonymous; ''sleeve notes from ' eponymous album

To gather, collect.

* Tennyson

whitest honey in fairy gardens culled

* 1977 , , Penguin Classics, p. 202:

Chaucer's prose Tale of Melibee is a dialectal homily of moral debate, exhibiting a learned store of ethical precept culled from many ancient authorities.

To select animals from a group and then kill them in order to reduce the numbers of the group in a controlled manner.

(nonstandard, euphemistic) To kill (animals etc).

To lay off in order to reduce the size of, get rid of.

Noun

(en noun)

A selection.

An organised killing of selected animals.

* {{quote-magazine, date=2012-12-21

, author=Isobel Montgomery , title=A year that showed the best and worst of Britain , volume=188, issue=2, page=31 , date=2012-12-18 , magazine= citation , passage=It seemed that the sun shone and all was right in our Blakean islands until the government began to set in motion its promised cull of badgers in an effort to control bovine TB. Salvation for brock came in the form of an online petition started by Queen guitarist Brian May, the rising costs of the programme and the weather.}}

A piece unfit for inclusion within a larger group; an inferior specimen.

Etymology 2

Perhaps an abbreviation of (cully).

Noun

(en noun)

(slang, dialectal) A fool, gullible person; a dupe.

* 1749 , Henry Fielding, Tom Jones , Folio Society 1973, p. 307:

Follow but my counsel, and I will show you a way to empty the pocket of a queer cull without any danger of the nubbing cheat.

Synonyms

* See also ----

culm

English

Etymology 1

Perhaps related to (coal). Perhaps from (etyl) , applied to this species of coal, which is much found in balls or knots in some parts of Wales: compare Old English culme.

Noun

waste coal, used as a poor quality fuel; slack.

* 1887 , Homer Greene, Burnham Breaker , Chapter XXI:

Here he lay down on a place soft with culm , to take his contemplated rest, and, before he was aware of it, sleep had descended on him, overpowered him, and bound him fast.

anthracite, especially when found in small masses

Etymology 2

Borrowed from (etyl) culmus .

Noun

(en noun)

(botany) the stem of a plant, especially of grass or sedge

* 1962 , , page 150:

...because, upon hearing him out, she sank down on the lawn in an impossible posture, examining a grass culm and frowning, he had taken his words back at once;...