local. Also culsh. [Possibly a. OF. culche (mod.F. couche) couch, bed, layer, stratum, etc.; but the late appearance of the word leaves this uncertain.]
1. gen. Rubbish, refuse. (South of Engl., and U.S.)
1736. J. Lewis, Hist. Thanet, Gloss., Culch, lumber, stuff.
1736. Pegge, Kenticisms, Culch, rags, bits of thread, and the like, such as mantua-makers litter a room with;… it means, I find too, any rubbish.
1888. Elworthy, W. Somerset Word-bk., Culch, broken crockery, oyster shells, and the usual siftings from an ash-pit.
1891. Jrnl. Amer. Folk-lore, No. 13. This word, when applied to human beings, has a secondary sense of disgust. ‘He’s a mean old culch!’ The epithet is the worst which can be used.
Mod. (Essex), Culsh may be shot here.
2. spec. The mass of stones, old shells, and other hard material, of which an oyster-bed is formed.
1667. Sprat, Hist. Royal Soc., 307. The Spat cleaves to Stones, old Oyster-shells, pieces of Wood, and such like things, at the bottom of the Sea, which they call Cultch.
1774. E. Jacob, Faversham, 83. A dredge full of Cutch instead of oysters.
1863. C. R. Markham, in Intell. Observ., IV. 424. Paved with stones, old shells, and any other hard substances … so as to form a bed for the oysters, which would be choked in soft mud. This material is called culch.
1891. W. K. Brooks, Oyster, 103. Oyster shells … form the most available cultch, and are most generally used.
