different between clem vs clam

English

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -?m

Etymology 1

Compare clam (“to clog”), or German klemmen (“to jam, clamp; to be stuck, adhere (to a surface)”), Icelandic klmbra, English clamp.

Verb

clem (third-person singular simple present clems, present participle clemming, simple past and past participle clemmed)

1. (Britain, dialect, transitive or intransitive) To be hungry; starve.
   • 1889, Amelia Edith Huddleston Barr, Between Two Loves, Ch. VI, p. 110:

     " […] Here he's back home again, and without work, and without a penny, and thou knows t' little one and I were pretty well clemmed to death when thou got us a bit o' bread and meat last night. We were that!"

2. To stick, adhere.

References

• The Dictionary of the Scots Language

Etymology 2

Possibly from clementine, a small round citrus fruit.

Noun

clem (plural clems)

1. (Tyneside, vulgar, slang) A testicle.

References

• clem in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

Anagrams

• ECML

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /klæm/
• (æ-tensing) IPA^(key): [kle?m]
• Rhymes: -æm

Etymology 1

From Middle English clam (“pincers, vice, clamp”), from Old English clamm (“bond, fetter, grip, grasp”), from Proto-Germanic *klamjan? (“press, squeeze together”). The sense “dollar” may allude to wampum.

Noun

clam (plural clams)

1. A bivalve mollusk of many kinds, especially those that are edible; for example the soft-shell clam (Mya arenaria), the hard clam (Mercenaria mercenaria), the sea clam or hen clam (Spisula solidissima), and other species. The name is said to have been given originally to the Tridacna gigas, a huge East Indian bivalve.
2. Strong pincers or forceps.
3. A kind of vise, usually of wood.
4. (US, slang, chiefly in the plural) A dollar.

5. (slang, derogatory) A Scientologist.
6. (slang, vulgar) A vagina.
7. (informal) One who clams up; a taciturn person, one who refuses to speak.
9. (dated, US, slang) mouth (Now found mostly in the expression shut one's clam)

Derived terms

• bearded clam
• clambake
• clamshell
• clam chowder
• clam shack
• clam up
• happy as a clam

Translations

Verb

clam (third-person singular simple present clams, present participle clamming, simple past and past participle clammed)

1. To dig for clams.

Translations

See also

• clammy

Etymology 2

Noun

clam (plural clams)

1. A crash or clangor made by ringing all the bells of a chime at once.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Nares to this entry?)

Verb

clam (third-person singular simple present clams, present participle clamming, simple past and past participle clammed)

1. To produce, in bellringing, a clam or clangor; to cause to clang.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Nares to this entry?)

Etymology 3

From Middle English clammen (“to smear, bedaub”), from Old English cl?man (“to smear, bedaub”). Cognate with German klamm (“clammy”). See also clammy (“damp, cold and sticky”) and clem (“to adhere, stick, plug (a hole)”).

Adjective

clam (comparative clammer, superlative clammest)

1. (obsolete) clammy.
   • 1808, John Jamieson, An Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language:

     Ice is said to be clam, when beginning to melt with the sun or otherwise, and not easy to be slid upon.

Noun

clam

1. clamminess; moisture
   • 1837, Thomas Carlyle, The French Revolution: A History

     The clam of death.

Verb

clam (third-person singular simple present clams, present participle clamming, simple past and past participle clammed)

1. To be moist or glutinous; to stick; to adhere.

   • A chilling sweat , a damp of jealousy,
     Hangs on my brows, and clams upon my limbs

2. To clog, as with glutinous or viscous matter.

Etymology 4

Noun

clam (plural clams)

1. (rowing) Alternative form of CLAM

Anagrams

• ALCM, CAML, Caml, Malc, calm

Catalan

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Central, Valencian) IPA^(key): /?klam/
• Rhymes: -am

Noun

clam m (plural clams)

1. clamor

Synonyms

• clamor

Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *?l-, zero-grade form of *?el- (“to hide, conceal”). Cognate to Latin c?l?.

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /klam/, [k??ä??]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /klam/, [kl?m]

Adverb

clam (not comparable)

1. clandestinely, secretly, privately
2. stealthily

Derived terms

• clancul?
• clanculum

Related terms

• clancul?rius
• clandest?n?
• clandest?nus

Preposition

clam (+ accusative, ablative)

1. (with accusative or, rarely, ablative) without the knowledge of, unknown to
   • 163 B.C.E. Terence, Heauton Timorumenos, Act II, Scene II:

     Neque ade? clam m? est.

     Nor indeed is it unknown to me.

References

• clam in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• clam in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• clam in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)
• clam in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré Latin-Français, Hachette

Old English

Alternative forms

• (NE dialects) cloam

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kl??m/

Noun

cl?m m

1. mud

Declension

Old Irish

Etymology

From Proto-Celtic *klamos (“sick, leprous”). Cognate with Welsh claf (“sick, ill”).

Noun

clam m or f

1. leper

Usage notes

The noun's gender depends on the leper's gender. If the leper is male, it is masculine. If the leper is female, it is feminine.

Inflection

Descendants

• Middle Irish: clam

Mutation

References

Further reading

• Gregory Toner, Maire Ní Mhaonaigh, Sharon Arbuthnot, Dagmar Wodtko, Maire-Luise Theuerkauf, editors (2019) , “clam”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language