clod

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English

Etymology

From Middle English clod, a late by-form of clot, from Old English clot, from Proto-West Germanic *klott (“mass, ball, clump”). Compare clot and cloud; cognate to kloot (“clod”).

Alternatively, Middle English clod may derive from Old English *clod (found in Old English clodhamer (“a kind of thrush”) and Clodhangra (a placename)), from Proto-West Germanic *kloddō (“lump, clod”), from *gel- (“to ball up, become lumpy”), related to West Frisian klodde (“clod, lump”), Dutch klodde (“lump, blob”).

Pronunciation

Noun

clod (plural clods)

  2. A lump of something, especially earth or clay.
    • 1667, John Milton, “Book X”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:
      clods of iron and brass
    • 1600, Edward Fairfax (translator), originally published in 1581 by Torquato Tasso, w:Jerusalem Delivered
      clods of blood
    • 1627 (indicated as 1626), Francis [Bacon], “(please specify the page, or |century=I to X)”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], London: […] William Rawley […]; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], →OCLC:
      The earth that casteth up from the plough a great clod, is not so good as that which casteth up a smaller clod.
    • 1903, Warwick Deeping, Uther and Igraine:
      As for yon clod of clay, we will bury it later, lest it should pollute so goodly a pool.
    • 1906, Mark Twain, Eve's Diary:
      One of the clods took it back of the ear, and it used language. It gave me a thrill, for it was the first time I had ever heard speech, except my own.
    • 2010, Clare Vanderpool, Moon Over Manifest:
      "What a bunch of hooey," I said under my breath, tossing a dirt clod over my shoulder against the locked-up garden shed.
  3. The ground; the earth; a spot of earth or turf.
  5. A stupid person; a dolt.
  7. Part of a shoulder of beef, or of the neck piece near the shoulder.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

clod (third-person singular simple present clods, present participle clodding, simple past and past participle clodded)

  1. (transitive) To pelt with clods.
    • 1906, Mark Twain, Eve's Diary:
      "When I went there yesterday evening in the gloaming it had crept down and was trying to catch the little speckled fishes that play in the pool, and I had to clod it to make it go up the tree again and let them alone."
    • 1959, Louis L'Amour, The First Fast Draw:
      when I came out and started to hoist it to the mule's back they rushed at me and jerked my suspenders down and then they clodded me with chunks of dirt
  2. (transitive, Scotland) To throw violently; to hurl.
  3. To collect into clods, or into a thick mass; to coagulate; to clot.
    • 1610, Giles Fletcher, Christ's Victorie and Triumph:
      Clodded in lumps of clay.

References

“clod”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Anagrams

Middle English

Alternative forms

Etymology

A late by-form of clot of unclear provenance. Compare Old English *clod, a form of clot found in compounds and placenames.

Pronunciation

Noun

clod (plural cloddes)

  1. A clod; a ball of earth or clay.
  2. (rare) A clot or clump of blood.
  3. (rare) A shoulder of beef.

Derived terms

Descendants

  • English: clod
  • Scots: clod

References

Welsh

Etymology

From Proto-Brythonic *klod, from Proto-Celtic *klutom (“rumour; fame”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱlew- (“heard, famous”) (whence also clywed (“to hear”)).

Pronunciation

Noun

clod m (plural clodydd)

  1. praise, renown, credit
  2. distinction (in exam results)

Derived terms

Mutation

Mutated forms of clod
radical soft nasal aspirate
clod glod nghlod chlod

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Welsh.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

Further reading

  • R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present), “clod”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies
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