See Also: Clay(medicine)
clay(dictionary)
clay(encyclopedia)
clay(2)(dictionary)
clay(1)(dictionary)
Clay, Henry(encyclopedia)
clay mineral(encyclopedia)
Henry Clay(dictionary)
Fairlight Clay(dictionary)
Clay, Cassius(dictionary)

clay(1) (iou)



clay noun.

A stiff tenacious fine-grained earth consisting mainly of hydrated aluminosilicates, which becomes more plastic when water is added, and can be moulded and dried to make bricks, pottery, etc. OE.
china clay, fire-clay, grafting-clay, pipeclay, etc. London clay, Oxford clay, etc. feet of clay: see FOOT noun. virgin clay: see VIRGIN adjective. white clay: see WHITE adjective.
Yeats Quiet as the clay-cold dead.
b. Any substance of a tough sticky nature, as bitumen, pitch, etc. LME-L16.
(Moist) earth, mire, mud. ME.
(The material of) the human body. ME.
lump of clay: see LUMP noun1. moisten one's clay, wet one's clay arch. joc. drink.
In full clay pipe. A tobacco-pipe made of clay. M19.
long clay: see LONG adjective1.
In full clay pigeon. A saucer-shaped piece of baked clay or other material, serving as a target in trap-shooting. Orig. US. L19.
Comb.: clay court a tennis-court with a clay surface; clay ironstone clayey iron ore, esp. argillaceous siderite; clay mineral any of a number of aluminosilicate minerals which occur as colloidal crystals in clay; clay-pan Austral. a natural hollow formed of clayey soil and retaining water after rain; clay pigeon: see sense 5 above; clay pipe: see sense 4 above; clay slate an argillaceous sedimentary rock with a slaty cleavage; claystone any of various rocks consisting of or resembling clay, esp. fine-grained mudstone.
clayen adjective (arch.) of clay LME.
clayish adjective more or less clayey LME.
claylike adjective resembling clay E17.