from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
- n. A layer of hard subsoil or clay. Also called caliche.
- n. Hard, unbroken ground.
- n. A foundation; bedrock.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
- n. A distinct layer of soil that is largely impervious to water.
- n. A dry lake.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
- adj. the hard stratum of earth lying beneath the soil; hence, figuratively, the firm, substantial, fundamental part or quality of anything; as, the hard pan of character, of a matter in dispute, etc. See Pan.
- n. The hard substratum. Same as Hard pan, under hard, a.
from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. The more or less firmly consolidated detrital material which sometimes underlies a superficial covering of soil.
- n. Hence Hard, unbroken ground.
- n. The lowest level; lowest foundation; a firm footing for effort or upward progress: as, prices have reached hard-pan.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- n. crust or layer of hard subsoil encrusted with calcium-carbonate occurring in arid or semiarid regions
Sorry, no etymologies found.
Caliche is also known as hardpan, calcrete, kankar (in India), or duricrust.
Some of the farmers down here tell me confidentially that "hardpan" has been found on their neighbors 'farms, but I have not talked with any one who has any on his own farm.
Among other impediments to water reaching the roots, such as hardpan, soil compaction, soil layering, and low salt, is a condition known as water recession.
Caliche is also known as hardpan, calcrete, kankar (in
Away across the desert's hardpan horizon the waves of heat rippled, taunting me with a mirage of hope.
It ended at a strip of Texas lawn—lace-work of crab grass on hardpan—inside the fence.
The predominant natural plant communities are Needlegrass grasslands, and Northern hardpan vernal pools are common.
Subsoils contain a layer enriched with lime and/or gypsum, which may develop into a caliche hardpan.
The film's settings and characters are standards, familiar representations of the Old West, etched into the hard stone of the landscape: the wide expanses of dusty hardpan, the flat-top mesas and rocky abutments jutting up out of the ground.
In the distance, when a vehicle approached from the west, he could dimly see the abandoned drive-in theater and the weed-grown miniature-golf course and the silhouettes of the Cadillac car bodies buried nose-down in the hardpan.