Adjacent Words

Clay definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

CLAY, n.
1. The name of certain substances which are mixtures of silex and alumin, sometimes with lime, magnesia, alkali and metallic oxyds. A species of earths which are firmly coherent, weighty, compact, and hard when dry, but stiff, viscid and ductile when moist, and smooth to the touch; not readily diffusible in water, and when mixed, not readily subsiding in it. They contract by heat. Clays absorb water greedily, and become soft, but are so tenacious as to be molded into any shape, and hence they are the materials of bricks and various vessels, domestic and chimical.
2. In poetry and in scripture, earth in general.
3. In scripture, clay is used to express frailty, liableness to decay and destruction.
They that dwell in houses of clay. Job 4.
CLAY, v.t.
1. To cover or manure with clay.
2. To purify and whiten with clay, as sugar.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a very fine-grained soil that is plastic when moist but hard when fired
2: water soaked soil; soft wet earth [syn: mud, clay]
3: United States general who commanded United States forces in Europe from 1945 to 1949 and who oversaw the Berlin airlift (1897-1978) [syn: Clay, Lucius Clay, Lucius DuBignon Clay]
4: United States politician responsible for the Missouri Compromise between free and slave states (1777-1852) [syn: Clay, Henry Clay, the Great Compromiser]
5: the dead body of a human being; "the cadaver was intended for dissection"; "the end of the police search was the discovery of a corpse"; "the murderer confessed that he threw the stiff in the river"; "honor comes to bless the turf that wraps their clay" [syn: cadaver, corpse, stiff, clay, remains]

Merriam Webster's

noun Usage: often attributive Etymology: Middle English, from Old English cl?g; akin to Old High German kl?wa bran, Latin gluten glue, Middle Greek glia Date: before 12th century 1. a. an earthy material that is plastic when moist but hard when fired, that is composed mainly of fine particles of hydrous aluminum silicates and other minerals, and that is used for brick, tile, and pottery; specifically soil composed chiefly of this material having particles less than a specified size b. earth, mud 2. a. a substance that resembles clay in plasticity and is used for modeling b. the human body as distinguished from the spirit c. fundamental nature or character <the common clay> 3. clay court • clayey adjective • clayish adjective • claylike adjective

Merriam Webster's

I. biographical name Henry 1777-1852 American statesman & orator II. biographical name Lucius Du Bignon 1897-1978 American general

Britannica Concise

Soil particles with diameters are less than 0.005 mm; also a material composed essentially of clay particles (see clay mineral). In soils, clays provide the environment for almost all plant growth. The use of clay in pottery making predates recorded human history. As building materials, clay bricks (baked and as adobe) have been used in construction since the earliest times. Kaolin, or china clay, is required for the finer grades of ceramic materials; used for paper coating and filler, it gives the paper a gloss, permitting high-quality reproduction, and increases paper opacity. Clay materials have many uses in engineering; earth dams are made impermeable to water by a core of clay, and water loss in canals may be reduced by lining the bottom with clay (called puddling). The essential raw materials of portland cement include clays.

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 a stiff sticky earth, used for making bricks, pottery, ceramics, etc. 2 poet. the substance of the human body. 3 (in full clay pipe) a tobacco-pipe made of clay. Phrases and idioms: clay-pan Austral. a natural hollow in clay soil, retaining water after rain. clay pigeon a breakable disc thrown up from a trap as a target for shooting. Derivatives: clayey adj. clayish adj. claylike adj. Etymology: OE clæg f. WG

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Clay Clay (kl[=a]), n. [AS. cl[=ae]g; akin to LG. klei, D. klei, and perh. to AS. cl[=a]m clay, L. glus, gluten glue, Gr. gloio`s glutinous substance, E. glue. Cf. Clog.] 1. A soft earth, which is plastic, or may be molded with the hands, consisting of hydrous silicate of aluminium. 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. 2. (Poetry & Script.) Earth in general, as representing the elementary particles of the human body; hence, the human body as formed from such particles. I also am formed out of the clay. --Job xxxiii. 6. The earth is covered thick with other clay, Which her own clay shall cover. --Byron. Bowlder clay. See under Bowlder. Brick clay, the common clay, containing some iron, and therefore turning red when burned. Clay cold, cold as clay or earth; lifeless; inanimate. Clay ironstone, an ore of iron consisting of the oxide or carbonate of iron mixed with clay or sand. Clay marl, a whitish, smooth, chalky clay. Clay mill, a mill for mixing and tempering clay; a pug mill. Clay pit, a pit where clay is dug. Clay slate (Min.), argillaceous schist; argillite. Fatty clays, clays having a greasy feel; they are chemical compounds of water, silica, and aluminia, as halloysite, bole, etc. Fire clay, a variety of clay, entirely free from lime, iron, or an alkali, and therefore infusible, and used for fire brick. Porcelain clay, a very pure variety, formed directly from the decomposition of feldspar, and often called kaolin. Potter's clay, a tolerably pure kind, free from iron.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Clay Clay, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Clayed; p. pr. & vb. n. Claying.] 1. To cover or manure with clay. 2. To clarify by filtering through clay, as sugar.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(clays) 1. Clay is a kind of earth that is soft when it is wet and hard when it is dry. Clay is shaped and baked to make things such as pots and bricks. ...the heavy clay soils of Cambridgeshire... As the wheel turned, the potter shaped and squeezed the lump of clay into a graceful shape. ...a little clay pot. N-MASS: oft N n 2. In tennis, matches played on clay are played on courts whose surface is covered with finely crushed stones or brick. He was a clay-court specialist who won Wimbledon five times. N-UNCOUNT: oft on N, N n

Easton's Bible Dictionary

This word is used of sediment found in pits or in streets (Isa. 57:20; Jer. 38:60), of dust mixed with spittle (John 9:6), and of potter's clay (Isa. 41:25; Nah. 3:14; Jer. 18:1-6; Rom. 9:21). Clay was used for sealing (Job 38:14; Jer. 32:14). Our Lord's tomb may have been thus sealed (Matt. 27:66). The practice of sealing doors with clay is still common in the East. Clay was also in primitive times used for mortar (Gen. 11:3). The "clay ground" in which the large vessels of the temple were cast (1 Kings 7:46; 2 Chr. 4:17) was a compact loam fitted for the purpose. The expression literally rendered is, "in the thickness of the ground,", meaning, "in stiff ground" or in clay.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

kla (chomer, chacaph, TiT, meleT, `abhi, ma`abheh, abhTiT; pelos, "wet clay," "mud"): True clay, which is a highly aluminous soil, is found in certain localities in Palestine, and is used in making pottery. The Hebrew and Greek words, as well as the English "clay," are, however, used loosely for any sticky mud. In making mud bricks, true clay is not always used, but ordinary soil is worked up with water and mixed with straw, molded and left to dry in the sun. Chomer (compare chmar, "slime" or "bitumen") is rendered both "clay" and "mortar." TiT is rendered "clay" or "mire." In Isa 41:25 we have: "He shall come upon rulers as upon mortar (chomer), and as the potter treadeth clay" (TiT). In Na 3:14, "Go into the clay (TiT), and tread the mortar (chomer); make strong the brickkiln" (i.e. make the walls ready to withstand a siege). Chacaph is the clay of the image in Nebuchadnezzar's dream (Da 2:33 ff). MeleT occurs only in Jer 43:9, where we find: the King James Version, "Take great stones .... and hide them in the clay in the brickkiln"; the Revised Version (British and American), "hide them in mortar in the brickwork"; the Revised Version, margin, "lay them with mortar in the pavement." In Hab 2:6, `abhTiT (found only here) is rendered in the King James Version "thick clay," as if from `abhi and TiT, but the Revised Version (British and American) has "pledges," referring the word to the root `abhaT, "to give a pledge." In 1Ki 7:46, ma`abheh ha-'adhamah (compare 2Ch 4:17, `abhi ha-'adhamah) is the compact or clayey soil in the plain of Jordan between Succoth and Zarethan, in which Hiram cast the vessels of brass for Solomon's temple. In Joh 9:6,11,14, Thayer gives "made mud of the spittle"; in Ro 9:21, "wet clay."

Alfred Ely Day

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. 1. Argillaceous earth (consisting principally of alumina and silica). 2. [Scriptural or poetic.] Flesh (of man, as perishable), mortal part, earthly part, earthly substance, perishable substance.

Moby Thesaurus

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