English Explanatory Dictionary

clay

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A mineral substance made up of small crystals of silica and alumina, that is ductile when moist; the material of pre-fired ceramics.
  2. An earth material with ductile qualities.
  3. A tennis court surface made of crushed stone, brick, shale, or other unbound mineral aggregate.
  4. The material of the human body.
  5. A particle less than 3.9 microns in diameter, following the Wentworth scale.
  6. A clay pipe for smoking tobacco.
  7. A clay pigeon.
  8. Land or territory of a country or other political region, especially when subject to territorial claims.
  9. A moth, Mythimna ferrago
verb
  1. To add clay to, to spread clay onto.
  2. To purify using clay.
name
  1. A surname originating as an occupation.
  2. A male given name transferred from the surname.
  3. A diminutive of the male given name Clayton.
  4. A number of places in the United States:
  5. A city in Jefferson County, Alabama.
  6. A census-designated place in Sacramento County, California.
  7. A home rule city in Webster County, Kentucky, named after Henry Clay.
  8. An unincorporated community in Adair County, Missouri.
  9. A town in Onondaga County, New York, named after Henry Clay.
  10. An unincorporated community in Franklin Township, Jackson County, Ohio.
  11. A census-designated place in Burleson County, Texas.
  12. A town, the county seat of Clay County, West Virginia.

Pronunciation

klā /kleɪ/ [kl̥eɪ] En-us-clay.ogg

Word forms

clay clays claying clayed

Etymology

From Middle English cley, clay, from Old English clǣġ (“clay”), from Proto-West Germanic *klaij, from Proto-Germanic *klajjaz (“clay”), from Proto-Indo-European *gley- (“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.

Synonyms

soil

Antonyms

soul spirit

Related words

alluvium

Derived words

ball clay boulder clay brickclay china clay claybank Clay Banks claybed clay cake clay-cold clay-colored thrush clay court claycourt clay courter clay eater clayen clayey clayfield clayhead claying clayish claykicker Clay Lake clayless claylike claymation claypan clay pigeon claypit clay pit clay shale clay slate clayster claystone clay tablet Clayton clayware claywork common clay Draycott in the Clay feet of clay fiber clay fire clay Holton le Clay iron clay light clay make bricks without clay modeling clay modelling clay nanoclay nonclay organoclay paper clay pipeclay potter's clay salt clay underclay vitrified clay pipe wet one's clay yard of clay clay up
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