clay

== English == === Etymology === From Middle English cley, clay, from Old English clǣġ (“clay”), from Proto-West Germanic *klaij, from Proto-Germanic *klajjaz (“clay”), derived from Proto-Indo-European *gleyH- (“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. === Pronunciation === enPR: klā, IPA(key): /kleɪ/, [kl̥eɪ] Rhymes: -eɪ === Noun === clay (usually uncountable, plural clays) A mineral substance made up of small crystals of silica and alumina, that is ductile when moist; the material of pre-fired ceramics. An earth material with ductile qualities. (tennis) A tennis court surface made of crushed stone, brick, shale, or other unbound mineral aggregate. (biblical) The material of the human body. (geology) A particle less than 3.9 microns in diameter, following the Wentworth scale. A clay pipe for smoking tobacco. (firearms, informal) A clay pigeon. (Internet slang, humorous) Land or territory of a country or other political region, especially when subject to territorial claims. Synonym: soil A moth, Mythimna ferrago ==== Antonyms ==== (antonym(s) of “material of the human body”): soul, spirit ==== Hyponyms ==== kaolin, kaoline ==== Derived terms ==== ==== Translations ==== ==== See also ==== alluvium === Verb === clay (third-person singular simple present clays, present participle claying, simple past and past participle clayed) (transitive) To add clay to, to spread clay onto. (transitive, of sugar) To purify using clay. 1776, Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, Book IV, Chapter 7: Of Colonies, Part 2: Causes of Prosperity of New Colonies, They amounted, therefore, to a prohibition, at first of claying or refining sugar for any foreign market, and at present of claying or refining it for the market, which takes off, perhaps, more than nine-tenths of the whole produce. ==== Derived terms ==== clay up === References === Krueger, Dennis (December 1982). "Why On Earth Do They Call It Throwing?" Studio Potter volume 11, Number 1.[2] (etymology) “clay” in Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary: Based on Webster’s Third New International Dictionary, 8th edition, Springfield, Mass.: G[eorge] & C[harles] Merriam, 1973 (1974 printing), →OCLC. Clay, New Webster Dictionary of English Language, 1980 edition. === Anagrams === Lacy, acyl, lacy == Middle English == === Noun === clay alternative form of cley (“clay”)