clam

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See also: CLAM

English

English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia
littleneck clams, of the species Mercenaria mercenaria

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

From Middle English clam (“pincers, vice, clamp”), from Old English clamm (“bond, fetter, grip, grasp”), from Proto-Germanic *klam (“press, squeeze together”). The sense “dollar” may allude to wampum.

Noun

clam (plural clams)

  1. A bivalve mollusk of many kinds, especially those that are edible; for example the soft-shell clam (Mya arenaria), the hard clam (Mercenaria mercenaria), the sea clam or hen clam (Lua error in Module:taxlink at line 68: Parameter "noshow" is not used by this template.), and other species. The name is said to have been given originally to the Tridacna gigas, a huge East Indian bivalve.
    • 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 3, in Mr. Pratt's Patients:
      My hopes wa'n't disappointed. I never saw clams thicker than they was along them inshore flats. I filled my dreener in no time, and then it come to me that 'twouldn't be a bad idee to get a lot more, take 'em with me to Wellmouth, and peddle 'em out. Clams was fairly scarce over that side of the bay and ought to fetch a fair price.
  2. Strong pincers or forceps.
  3. A kind of vise, usually of wood.
  4. (US, slang) A dollar (usually used in the plural).
    Those sneakers cost me fifty clams!
  5. (slang, derogatory) A Scientologist.
    • 1998 February 23, jesparolini, “CO$ Celebrities: USEFUL IDIOTS”, in alt.religion.scientology‎[1] (Usenet):
      So the clams have John Travolta, Tom Cruise, et al in their hot li'l ol'P-R hands […]
  6. (slang, vulgar) A vagina.
  7. (informal) One who clams up; a taciturn person, one who refuses to speak.
Derived terms

Template:mid3

Template:mid3

Translations

Verb

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  1. To dig for clams.
Translations

See also

Etymology 2

Noun

clam (plural clams)

  1. A crash or clangor made by ringing all the bells of a chime at once.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Nares to this entry?)

Verb

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  1. To produce, in bellringing, a clam or clangor; to cause to clang.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Nares to this entry?)

Etymology 3

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Middle English clammen (“to smear, bedaub”), from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Old English clǣman (“to smear, bedaub”). Cognate with German klamm (“clammy”). See also clammy (“damp, cold and sticky”) and clem (“to adhere, stick, plug (a hole)”).

Adjective

clam (comparative clammer, superlative clammest)

  1. (obsolete) clammy.

Noun

clam

  1. clamminess; moisture
    • (Can we date this quote by Carlyle and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
      The clam of death.

Verb

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  1. To be moist or glutinous; to stick; to adhere.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Dryden to this entry?)
  2. To clog, as with glutinous or viscous matter.
    • (Can we date this quote by L'Estrange and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
      A swarm of wasps got into a honey pot, and there they cloyed and clammed themselves till there was no getting out again.

Etymology 4

Noun

clam (plural clams)

  1. (rowing) Alternative form of CLAM

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “clam”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)

Anagrams

Catalan

Pronunciation

Noun

clam m (plural clams)

  1. clamor

Synonyms

Latin

FWOTD – 7 April 2015

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *ḱl-, zero-grade form of *ḱel- (“to hide, conceal”). Cognate to Latin cēlō.

Pronunciation

Adverb

clam (not comparable)

  1. clandestinely, secretly, privately
  2. stealthily

Derived terms

Related terms

Preposition

clam (+ accusative, ablative)

  1. (with accusative or, rarely, ablative) without the knowledge of, unknown to
    • 163 B.C.E. Terence, Heauton Timorumenos, Act II, Scene II:
      Neque adeō clam mē est.
      Nor indeed is it unknown to me.

References

  • “clam”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • “clam”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • clam in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
  • clam in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.

Old English

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

Noun

clām m

  1. mud

Declension

Declension of clam (strong a-stem)
Case Singular Plural
nominative clām clāmas
accusative clām clāmas
genitive clāmes clāma
dative clāme clāmum
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