Clay Definition

klā
noun
A firm, fine-grained earth, plastic when wet, composed chiefly of hydrous aluminum silicate minerals: it is produced by the chemical decomposition of rocks or the deposit of fine rock particles in water and is used in the manufacture of bricks, pottery, and other ceramics.
Webster's New World
A hardening or nonhardening material having a consistency similar to clay and used for modeling.
American Heritage
Soil composed of mineral particles of very small size.
Webster's New World
Earth, esp. as a symbol of the material of the human body.
Webster's New World
A sedimentary material with grains smaller than 0.002 millimeter in diameter.
American Heritage
Synonyms:
pronoun

A surname​.

Wiktionary
A male given name transferred from the surname.
Wiktionary

A diminutive of the male given name Clayton.

Wiktionary
other
Wiktionary
Ball clay.
Wiktionary
Fire clay.
Wiktionary
Potter's clay.
Wiktionary
verb
To add clay to, to spread clay onto.
Wiktionary
(of sugar) To purify using clay.
Wiktionary

Other Word Forms of Clay

Noun

Singular:
clay
Plural:
clays

Origin of Clay

  • From Middle English clay, cley, from Old English clǣġ (“clay”), 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 glūs (“glue”), Ukrainian ґлей (glej, “clay”). Related also to clag, clog.

    From Wiktionary

  • From a Middle English occupational name for a clay worker, or a habitational name, from Old English clǣġ (“clay”).

    From Wiktionary

  • Middle English clei from Old English clæg

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

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