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clod

English

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clod

  • /klɒd/ UK
  • /klɑd/ US

Rhymes with -ɒd

Where it comes from

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”).

noun clods

  1. A lump of something, especially earth or clay. clods of iron and brass
  2. The ground; the earth; a spot of earth or turf. the clod where once their sultan's horse hath trod
  3. A stupid person, a dolt, a clodpate, a clodhopper. The vulgar, a scarce animated clod
  4. Part of a shoulder of beef, or of the neck piece near the shoulder.

verb clods · clodding · clodded

  1. transitive To pelt with clods. "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."
  2. Scotland, transitive To throw violently; to hurl. "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. Clodded in lumps of clay.

Translations

Every language

noun lump of something, especially of earth or clay

Españolgrumo, terrón, gleba
Portuguêstorrão
Françaismotte
DeutschKlumpen, Erdklumpen
Italianozolla, gleba, piota
Românăbulgăre
Русскийком kom, глы́ба glýba
עבריתרֶגֶב

noun stupid person

Españoltonta, tonto
Françaiscruche, andouille
DeutschTrottel
Italianotonta, tonto
Русскийо́лух ólux, дура́к durák, ду́рень dúrenʹ, глупе́ц glupéc
עבריתטמבל t'embel

noun part of a shoulder or neck of beef

Portuguêscachaço

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Cite this
MLA

"clod." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/clod. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

clod. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/clod

Chicago

"clod." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/clod.

BibTeX
@misc{clod_2026,
  title = {clod},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/clod},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}