clam

See also: CLAM

EnglishEdit

 
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littleneck clams, of the species Mercenaria mercenaria

PronunciationEdit

Etymology 1Edit

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.

NounEdit

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 (Spisula solidissima), 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.
    • 1970, “Cherrystones”, in Outlaw, performed by Eugene McDaniels:
      Long as I have my clams I don't give a damn about revolution / Long as I have my rice I don't have to think twice about a solution
  2. Strong pincers or forceps.
  3. A kind of vise, usually of wood.
  4. (US, slang, chiefly in the plural) A dollar.
    Those sneakers cost me fifty clams!
  5. (slang, derogatory) A Scientologist.
    • 1998 February 23, jesparolini, “CO$ Celebrities: USEFUL IDIOTS”, in alt.religion.scientology, Usenet‎[2]:
      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 termsEdit
TranslationsEdit
mollusc — See also translations at mollusc,‎ oyster,‎ mussel

VerbEdit

clam (third-person singular simple present clams, present participle clamming, simple past and past participle clammed)

  1. To dig for clams.
TranslationsEdit

See alsoEdit

Etymology 2Edit

NounEdit

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?)

VerbEdit

clam (third-person singular simple present clams, present participle clamming, simple past and past participle clammed)

  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 3Edit

From Middle English clammen (“to smear, bedaub”), from 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)”).

AdjectiveEdit

clam (comparative clammer, superlative clammest)

  1. (obsolete) clammy.

NounEdit

clam

  1. clamminess; moisture

VerbEdit

clam (third-person singular simple present clams, present participle clamming, simple past and past participle clammed)

  1. To be moist or glutinous; to stick; to adhere.
  2. To clog, as with glutinous or viscous matter.

Etymology 4Edit

NounEdit

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, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.)

AnagramsEdit

CatalanEdit

PronunciationEdit

NounEdit

clam m (plural clams)

  1. clamor

SynonymsEdit

LatinEdit

FWOTD – 7 April 2015

EtymologyEdit

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

PronunciationEdit

AdverbEdit

clam (not comparable)

  1. clandestinely, secretly, privately
  2. stealthily

Derived termsEdit

Related termsEdit

PrepositionEdit

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.

ReferencesEdit

Old EnglishEdit

Alternative formsEdit

PronunciationEdit

NounEdit

clām m

  1. mud

DeclensionEdit

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

Old IrishEdit

EtymologyEdit

From Proto-Celtic *klamos (“sick, leprous”). Cognate with Welsh claf (“sick, ill”).[1]

NounEdit

clam m or f

  1. leper

Usage notesEdit

The noun's gender depends on the leper's gender. If the leper is male, it is masculine. If the leper is female, it is feminine.

InflectionEdit

Masculine o-stem
Singular Dual Plural
Nominative clam clamL claimL
Vocative claim clamL clamuH
Accusative clamN clamL clamuH
Genitive claimL clam clamN
Dative clamL clamaib clamaib
Initial mutations of a following adjective:
  • H = triggers aspiration
  • L = triggers lenition
  • N = triggers nasalization
Feminine ā-stem
Singular Dual Plural
Nominative clamL claimL clamaH
Vocative clamL claimL clamaH
Accusative claimN claimL clamaH
Genitive claimeH clamL clamN
Dative claimL clamaib clamaib
Initial mutations of a following adjective:
  • H = triggers aspiration
  • L = triggers lenition
  • N = triggers nasalization

DescendantsEdit

  • Middle Irish: clam

MutationEdit

Old Irish mutation
Radical Lenition Nasalization
clam chlam clam
pronounced with /ɡ(ʲ)-/
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every
possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

ReferencesEdit

  1. ^ Matasović, Ranko (December 2011) , “Addenda et corrigenda to Ranko Matasović’s Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic (Brill, Leiden 2009)”, in Homepage of Ranko Matasović‎[1], Zagreb, page 43

Further readingEdit

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