different between flam vs clam

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /flæm/

Etymology 1

17th century; from flim-flam, itself perhaps from a dialectal word or Scandinavian; compare Old Norse flim (“lampoon, mockery”).

Noun

flam (countable and uncountable, plural flams)

1. A freak or whim; an idle fancy.
2. (archaic) A falsehood; a lie; an illusory pretext

   Synonyms: deception, delusion

   • 1692, Robert South, "A Further Account of the Nature and Measures of Conscience", in Forty Eight Sermons and Discourses on Several Subjects and Occasions (published 1697)

     all Pretences, or Pleas of Conscience, to the contrary, are nothing but Cant and Cheat, Flam and Delusion.

   • a perpetual abuse and flam upon posterity

Translations

Verb

flam (third-person singular simple present flams, present participle flamming, simple past and past participle flammed)

1. (obsolete) To deceive with a falsehood.

   • God is not to be flammed off with Lyes.

Translations

Etymology 2

Imitative.

Noun

flam (plural flams)

1. (drumming) Two taps (a grace note followed by a full-volume tap) played very close together in order to sound like one slightly longer note.

Derived terms

• flam paradiddle, flamadiddle

Verb

flam (third-person singular simple present flams, present participle flamming, simple past and past participle flammed)

1. (drumming, transitive, intransitive) To play (notes as) a flam.
   • 1923, Edward B. Straight, The Straight System of Modern Drumming: The "Natural Way" to Play Drums, page 10:

     We will commence to flam the notes now, as most of them are flammed when you play a March.

   • 1975, George Shipway, Free Lance, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt P (?ISBN):

     Drums ruffled and flammed.

References

Anagrams

• FMLA

Catalan

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Central, Valencian) IPA^(key): /?flam/

Noun

flam m (plural flams)

1. flan (custard dessert)

Further reading

• “flam” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “flam” in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana.
• “flam” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “flam” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Volapük

Noun

flam (nominative plural flams)

1. flame

Declension

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