clod

English

Etymology

From Middle English clod, a late by-form of clot, from Old English clot, from Proto-West Germanic *klott (“mass, ball, clump”). Compare clot and cloud; cognate to kloot (“clod”).

Alternatively, Middle English clod may derive from Old English *clod (found in Old English clodhamer (“a kind of thrush”) and Clodhangra (a placename)), from Proto-West Germanic *kloddō (“lump, clod”), from *gel- (“to ball up, become lumpy”), related to West Frisian klodde (“clod, lump”), Dutch klodde (“lump, blob”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /klɒd/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /klɑd/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒd

Noun

clod (plural clods)

2. A lump of something, especially earth or clay.
   • 1667, John Milton, “Book X”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:

     clods of iron and brass

   • 1600, Edward Fairfax (translator), originally published in 1581 by Torquato Tasso, w:Jerusalem Delivered

     clods of blood

   • 1627 (indicated as 1626), Francis [Bacon], “(please specify the page, or |century=I to X)”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], London: […] William Rawley […]; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], →OCLC:

     The earth that casteth up from the plough a great clod, is not so good as that which casteth up a smaller clod.

   • 1903, Warwick Deeping, Uther and Igraine:

     As for yon clod of clay, we will bury it later, lest it should pollute so goodly a pool.

   • 1906, Mark Twain, Eve's Diary:

     One of the clods took it back of the ear, and it used language. It gave me a thrill, for it was the first time I had ever heard speech, except my own.

   • 2010, Clare Vanderpool, Moon Over Manifest:

     "What a bunch of hooey," I said under my breath, tossing a dirt clod over my shoulder against the locked-up garden shed.

3. The ground; the earth; a spot of earth or turf.
   • 1723, Jonathan Swift, Pethox the Great:

     the clod where once their sultan's horse hath trod

5. A stupid person; a dolt.
   • 1675, John Dryden, Aureng-zebe: A Tragedy. […], London: […] T[homas] N[ewcomb] for Henry Herringman, […], published 1676, →OCLC, Act I, page 3:

     The vulgar, a scarce animated clod

   • 1906, Robert Barr, The Triumphs of Eugène Valmont:

     'What was its number?'
     'I don't know, sir.'
     'You clod! Why didn't you call one of our men, whoever was nearest, and leave him to shadow the American while you followed the cab?'

   • 1986 February 14, Bill Watterson, Calvin and Hobbes:

     So here's a valentine for you, you insensitive clod!!

   • 1998, Chickenpox (episode of South Park TV series)

     Gerald Broflovski: You see Kyle, we humans work as a society, and in order for a society to thrive, we need gods and clods.

   • 2015, "Jail Break" (episode of Steven Universe TV series)

     Peridot: Don't touch that! You clods don't know what you're doing!

7. Part of a shoulder of beef, or of the neck piece near the shoulder.

Derived terms

• clodcrusher
• cloddish
• cloddy
• clodhopper
• clodhopping
• clodlet
• clodpate
• clodpated
• clodpole

 

Translations

lump of something, especially of earth or clay

• Bulgarian: буца (bg) f (buca)
• Catalan: gleva (ca) f, terròs (ca) m
• Czech: hrouda (cs) f
• Dutch: klomp (nl) m, kluit (nl) m, klont (nl) m or f
• Esperanto: bulo (eo)
• Finnish: paakku (fi)
• French: motte (fr) f
• Galician: terrón (gl) m, toutizo (gl) m
• German: Klumpen (de) m, Erdklumpen m (earth)
• Greek:

  Ancient: βῶλος f (bôlos), βῶλαξ f (bôlax)

• Hebrew: רֶגֶב (he) m
• Ingrian: koma
• Latin: glaeba f
• Maori: paioneone, pōkurukuru, peipei, pōkurukuru, poikurukuru, pokuru
• Middle English: clod, clot
• Persian: کلوخ (fa) (kolux)
• Polish: grudka (pl) f
• Portuguese: torrão (pt) m
• Romanian: bulgăre (ro) m
• Russian: ком (ru) m (kom), глы́ба (ru) f (glýba)
• Scottish Gaelic: fòid f
• Spanish: grumo (es) m, terrón (es) m, gleba f
• Swedish: (jord-)klump c, (jord-)koka c

ground, a spot of earth or turf

• Finnish: maa (fi), tanner (fi)

stupid person

• Bulgarian: глупак (bg) m (glupak)
• Czech: blb (cs) m, hňup (cs)
• Finnish: nuija (fi)
• French: (figuratively) cruche (fr) f, andouille (fr)
• German: Trottel (de) m
• Hebrew: טמבל (he) m (t'embel)
• Irish: daba m
• Italian: tonta (it), tonto (it)
• Russian: о́лух (ru) m (ólux), дура́к (ru) m (durák), ду́рень (ru) m (dúrenʹ), глупе́ц (ru) m (glupéc)
• Spanish: tonta (es), tonto (es)

part of a shoulder or neck of beef

• Portuguese: cachaço (pt) m

Verb

clod (third-person singular simple present clods, present participle clodding, simple past and past participle clodded)

1. (transitive) To pelt with clods.
   • 1906, Mark Twain, Eve's Diary:

     "When I went there yesterday evening in the gloaming it had crept down and was trying to catch the little speckled fishes that play in the pool, and I had to clod it to make it go up the tree again and let them alone."

   • 1959, Louis L'Amour, The First Fast Draw:

     when I came out and started to hoist it to the mule's back they rushed at me and jerked my suspenders down and then they clodded me with chunks of dirt

2. (transitive, Scotland) To throw violently; to hurl.
   • 1815 February 24, [Walter Scott], Guy Mannering; or, The Astrologer. […], volumes (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; and Archibald Constable and Co., […], →OCLC:

     "So, sir, she grippit him, and clodded him like a stane from the sling ower the craigs of Warroch-head"

3. To collect into clods, or into a thick mass; to coagulate; to clot.
   • 1610, Giles Fletcher, Christ's Victorie and Triumph:

     Clodded in lumps of clay.

References

“clod”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• cold, loc'd

Middle English

Alternative forms

• clodd, clodde, cludde

Etymology

A late by-form of clot of unclear provenance. Compare Old English *clod, a form of clot found in compounds and placenames.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /klɔd/

Noun

clod (plural cloddes)

1. A clod; a ball of earth or clay.
2. (rare) A clot or clump of blood.
3. (rare) A shoulder of beef.

Derived terms

• clodred
• clodden
• cloddre

Descendants

• English: clod
• Scots: clod

References

• “clod, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Welsh

Etymology

From Proto-Brythonic *klod, from Proto-Celtic *klutom (“rumour; fame”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱlew- (“heard, famous”) (whence also clywed (“to hear”)).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kloːd/

Noun

clod m (plural clodydd)

1. praise, renown, credit
2. distinction (in exam results)

Derived terms

• anghlod (“dispraise”)
• canu clodydd (“to sing the praises of”)
• clodfawr (“famous, renowned”)
• clodwiw (“praiseworthy”)

Mutation

Welsh mutation
radical	soft	nasal	aspirate
clod	glod	nghlod	chlod
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Further reading

• R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present), “clod”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies