beclam

English

Etymology

From Middle English *beclammen, from Old English beclæmman, beclemman, from Proto-West Germanic *biklammjan, equivalent to be- +‎ clam. Cognate with West Frisian beklamme, beklamje, Dutch beklemmen, German Low German beklemmen, German beklemmen.

Verb

beclam (third-person singular simple present beclams, present participle beclamming, simple past and past participle beclammed)

1. (transitive, now chiefly dialectal) To beclog with anything clammy or sticky.
   • 1889, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Letters from the Lake Poets, page 172:

     In short I feel all over me like a bird whose plumage is beclammed and wings glued to its body with bird-lime.

Anagrams

• becalm, malbec