clay
/kleɪ/ noun, verb, proper noun
Forms clays claying clayed
- noun A mineral substance made up of small crystals of silica and alumina, that is ductile when moist; the material of pre-fired ceramics.
- noun An earth material with ductile qualities.
- noun (tennis) A tennis court surface made of crushed stone, brick, shale, or other unbound mineral aggregate. “The French Open is played on clay.”
- noun (biblical) The material of the human body. “From clay we are made.”
- noun (geology) A particle less than 3.9 microns in diameter, following the Wentworth scale.
- noun A clay pipe for smoking tobacco.
- noun (firearms, informal) A clay pigeon. “We went shooting clays at the weekend.”
- noun (Internet slang, humorous) Land or territory of a country or other political region, especially when subject to territorial claims. “Vilnius is rightful Polish clay.”
- verb (transitive) To add clay to, to spread clay onto.
- verb (transitive, of sugar) To purify using clay.
- proper noun A surname originating as an occupation.
- proper noun A male given name transferred from the surname.
- proper noun A diminutive of the male given name Clayton.
- proper noun A city in Jefferson County, Alabama.
- proper noun A census-designated place in Sacramento County, California.
- proper noun A home rule city in Webster County, Kentucky, named after Henry Clay.
- proper noun An unincorporated community in Adair County, Missouri.
- proper noun A town in Onondaga County, New York, named after Henry Clay.
Synonyms
soil mud Lucius Clay Lucius DuBignon Clay Henry Clay the Great Compromiser cadaver corpse stiff remains
Antonyms
Etymology
From Middle English cley, clay, from Old English clǣġ (“clay”), from Proto-West Germanic *klaij, from Proto-Germanic *klajjaz (“clay”), derived from Proto-Indo-European *gleyH- (“to glue, paste, stick together”). Cognate with Dutch klei (“clay”), Low German Klei (“clay”), German Klei, Danish klæg (“clay”); compare Ancient Greek γλία (glía), Latin glūten (“glue”) (whence ultimately English glue), Russian глина (glina, “clay”). Related also to clag, clog.
From a Middle English occupational name for a clay worker, or a habitational name, from Old English clǣġ (“clay”).
Webster’s 1913
- noun A soft earth, which is plastuc, or may be molded with the hands, consisting of hydrous silicate of alumunium. It is the result of the wearing down and decomposition, in part, of rocks containing aluminous minerals, as granite. Lime, magnesia, oxide of iron, and other ingredients, are often present as impurities.
- noun Earth in general, as representing the elementary particles of the human body; hence, the human body as formed from such particles.
- verb To cover or manure with clay.
- verb To clarify by filtering through clay, as sugar.
Etymology [AS. clæg; akin to LG. klei, D. klei, and perh. to AS. clam clay, L. glus, gluten glue, Gr. glue. Cf. Clog.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “clay”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details