# clam
## English
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /klæm/
* (æ-tensing) IPA: [kleəm]
* Audio (US):(file)
* Rhymes: -æm

### Etymology 1

From Middle English clam (“pincers, vice, clamp”), from Old English clamm (“bond, fetter, grip, grasp”), from Proto-West Germanic *klammjan (“press, squeeze together”). The sense “dollar” may allude to wampum. The sense "Scientologist" alludes to the Scientologist belief that human thetans (souls) previously inhabited clams.

#### Noun

clam (plural clams)
* A bivalve mollusk of many kinds, especially those that are edible; for example soft-shell clams (Mya arenaria), hard clams (Mercenaria mercenaria), sea clams or hen clam (Spisula solidissima), and other species, possibly originally applied to clams of species Tridacna gigas, a huge East Indian bivalve.
** 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter III, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y., London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:My hopes wa'n't disappointed. I never saw clams thicker than they was along them inshore flats. I filled my dreener in no time, and then it come to me that 'twouldn't be a bad idee to get a lot more, take 'em with me to Wellmouth, and peddle 'em out. Clams was fairly scarce over that side of the bay and ought to fetch a fair price.
** 1970, “Cherrystones”, in Outlaw, performed by Eugene McDaniels:Long as I have my clams I don't give a damn about revolution / Long as I have my rice I don't have to think twice about a solution
* A type of strong pincers or forceps.
* A kind of vise, usually of wood.
* (US, slang, chiefly in the plural) A dollar.
    Those sneakers cost me fifty clams!
** 1973, Lucas Webb, Stribling, page 188:The network canceled—nonco-operation their legal shysters said. Suing me, for, for ten million clams, damages to sponsors, agencies.
* (slang, derogatory) A Scientologist.
** 1998 February 23, jesparolini, “CO$ Celebrities: USEFUL IDIOTS”, in alt.religion.scientology‎ (Usenet):So the clams have John Travolta, Tom Cruise, et al in their hot li'l ol'P-R hands […]
* (slang, vulgar) A vagina or vulva.
* (slang) In musicians' parlance, a wrong or misplaced note.
* (informal) One who clams up; a taciturn person, one who refuses to speak.
* (dated, US, slang) mouth (Now found mostly in the expression shut one's clam)
** 1900, Burt L. Standish, Frank Merriwell's Tricks: Or True Friends and False‎:Why, he hasn't opened his clam since that morning in your room. I expected he would hold forth on every and all occasions.
** 2017, Benjamin Kane Ethridge, Dungeon Brain‎:Jason wouldn't shut his clam about the invaders.

##### Derived terms

* American jackknife clam (Ensis directus)
* amethyst gem clam (Gemma gemma)
* Arctic surf clam (Spisula sachalinensis)
* ark clam (Arcidae spp.)
* Asian clam, Asiatic clam (Corbicula fluminea)
* Atlantic jackknife clam (Ensis directus)
* Atlantic surf clam (Spisula solidissima)
* bamboo clam (Ensis directus)
* bar clam (Spisula solidissima)
* basket clam (Corbulidae spp.)
* beach clam (Spisula solidissima)
* bean clam (Donax gouldii)
* bearded clam
* bear paw clam (Hippopus hipoopus)
* big-necked clam (Tresus spp.)
* black clam (Cyclina sinensis)
* blood clam (Argina pexata et al.)
* boring clam (Tridacna crocea)
* butter clam (Saxidomus gigantea)
* butterfly clam (Ellipsaria lineolata)
* calico clam (Macrocallista maculata)
* cherrystone clam (Mercenaria mercenaria)
* chestnut clam (Astarte spp.)
* Chinese clam (Cyclina sinensis)
* clamato
* clam bake
* clambake
* clambroth
* clamburger
* clam cake
* clam chowder
* clamdigger
* clamdiggers
* Clam Falls
* clam gun
* clam hoe
* clamless
* clam licker
* clamlike
* clammish
* clam rake
* clam shack
* clam-shell
* clamshell
* clam shrimp
* clam smacker
* Clam Union
* clam up
* clam worm
* coquina clam (Donax spp.)
* crocus clam (Tridacna crocea)
* dipper clam (Spisula solidissima)
* disco clam (Ctenoides ales)
* duck clam
* electric clam (Ctenoides ales)
* elephant trunk clam (Panope generosa)
* Essex clam (Mya arenaria)
* fingernail clam (Sphaerium spp.)
* fluted giant clam (Tridacna squamosa)
* freshwater clam (Unio spp., Anodonta spp., et al.)
* gaper clam (Tresus spp.)
* giant clam (Tridacna spp.)
* happy as a clam
* happy as a clam at high water
* hard clam, hard-shell clam (Mercenaria mercenaria)
* hardshell clam (Leukoma staminea)
* heart clam (Cardiidae spp.)
* hen clam (Spisula solidissima)
* horse clam (Tresus spp.)
* horse's hoof clam hoseshoe clam (Hippopus hipoopus)
* Ipswich clam (Mya arenaria)
* iron clam (Cyclina sinensis)
* jackknife clam (Ensis spp., Solen spp.)
* Japanese littleneck clam (Venerupis philippinarum)
* king clam (Panope generosa)
* Korean clam (Cyclina sinensis)
* littleneck clam (Leukoma staminea)
* little neck clam (Mercenaria mercenaria)
* long-neck clam (Mya arenaria)
* mahogany clam
* Manila clam (Venerupis philippinarum)
* maxima clam (Tridacna maxima)
* nut clam (Nuculidae spp.)
* otter shell clam (Lutraria spp.)
* Pacific clam (Panope generosa)
* Pacific littleneck clam (Leukoma staminea)
* Pacific razor clam (Siliqua patula)
* Palourde clam (Ruditapes decussatus)
* paw clam (Tridacna spp.)
* pea clam
* pismo clam (Tivela stultorum)
* piss clam (Mya arenaria, Ensis directus)
* pompano clam (Donax spp.)
* razor clam (Ensis spp., Siliqua spp., Solecurtus spp., Solen spp.)
* rock clam (Leukoma staminea)
* round clam (Mercenaria mercenaria)
* saffron-coloured clam (Tridacna crocea)
* sand clam (Mya arenaria)
* scaly clam (Tridacna squamosa)
* sea clam (Spisula solidissima)
* shut up like a clam
* small giant clam (Tridacna maxima)
* smooth clam (Callista chione)
* soft-shell clam, soft clam (Mya arenaria)
* steamer clam (Mya arenaria)
* strawberry clam (Hippopus hipoopus)
* sunrise clam (Tellinidae spp. et al.)
* surf clam (Spisula solida)
* tea clam (Mercenaria mercenaria)
* Venus clam (Venerida spp.)
* Washington clam (Saxidomus gigantea)

##### Translations
#### Verb

clam (third-person singular simple present clams, present participle clamming, simple past and past participle clammed)
* To dig for clams.

##### Derived terms

* clam up

##### Translations
#### See also

* clammy

### Etymology 2
#### Noun

clam (plural clams)
* A crash or clangor made by ringing all the bells of a chime at once.
** 1702, Campanologia Improved:By the bells standing too long in leading compass, the rest are thrown and jumbled together; whereby claps and clams so unpleasing to the hearers are occasion'd.

#### Verb

clam (third-person singular simple present clams, present participle clamming, simple past and past participle clammed)
* To produce, in bellringing, a clam or clangor; to cause to clang.
** 1702, Campanologia Improved:When they [bells] lie fifths thus 1 5 2 6 3 7 4 8, 'tis then most pleasant and excellent music to clam them; that is, the two notes of each concord to strike together, and if they be clam'd true the eight bells will strike like four, but with far greater musick and harmony.

### Etymology 3

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

#### Alternative forms

* clem

#### Adjective

clam (comparative clammer, superlative clammest)
* (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.

##### Derived terms

* beclam

#### Noun

clam
* clamminess; moisture
** 1837, Thomas Carlyle, The French Revolution: A History […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Chapman and Hall, →OCLC, (please specify the book or page number):The clam of death.

#### Verb

clam (third-person singular simple present clams, present participle clamming, simple past and past participle clammed)
* To be moist or glutinous; to stick; to adhere.
** 1690, [John] Dryden, Amphitryon; or, The Two Sosia’s. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […]; and M. Tonson […], published 1691, →OCLC, (please specify the page):A chilling sweat , a damp of jealousy, Hangs on my brows, and clams upon my limbs
* To clog, as with glutinous or viscous matter.
** 1692, Roger L’Estrange, “ (please specify the fable number.) (please specify the name of the fable.)”, in Fables, of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists: […], London: […] R[ichard] Sare, […], →OCLC:A whole Swarm of Wasps got into a Hony-pot, and there they Cloy'd and Clam'd themselves till there was no getting Out again.

### Etymology 4
#### Noun

clam (plural clams)
* (rowing) Alternative form of CLAM

### Etymology 5
#### Noun

clam (plural clams)
* Alternative form of clem (“to starve”)
Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing. (See the entry for “clam”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)

### Anagrams

* ALCM, CAML, Caml, Malc, calm

## Catalan
### Etymology

From Latin clamor, possibly borrowed through Old French clamor.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: (Central, Balearic, Valencia) [ˈklam]
* Rhymes: -am

### Noun

clam m (plural clams)
* clamor
    Synonym: clamor

## Latin
### Etymology

From Proto-Italic *klām, perhaps an adverbial accusative from Proto-Indo-European *ḱl-eh₂- (“concealment”) from *ḱel- (“to hide, conceal”). Cognate with Latin cēlō and others.

### Pronunciation

* (Classical Latin) IPA: /ˈklam/, [ˈkɫ̪ä̃ˑ]
* (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA: /ˈklam/, [ˈkläm]

### Adverb

clam (not comparable)
* clandestinely, secretly, privately
    Antonyms: publice, apertē, vulgō, palam
* stealthily

#### Derived terms

* clanculō
* clanculum

#### Related terms

* clanculārius
* clandestīnō
* clandestīnus

### Preposition

clam (+ accusative, ablative)
* without the knowledge of; unknown to
** 163 B.C.E. Terence, Heauton Timorumenos, Act II, Scene II:
    Neque adeō clam mē est.Nor indeed is it unknown to me.

### References

* ↑ De Vaan, Michiel (2008) “clam”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 117

### Further reading

* “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 with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
* clam in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.

## Old English
### Alternative forms

* (NE dialects) cloam

### Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *klaim (“mortar, clay”).

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /klɑːm/

### Noun

clām m
* mud

#### Declension

Strong a-stem:

#### Descendants

* English: cloam

## Old Irish
### Etymology

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

### Noun

clam m or f
* 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

* $^H$ = triggers aspiration
* $^L$ = triggers lenition
* $^N$ = triggers nasalization
* $^H$ = triggers aspiration
* $^L$ = triggers lenition
* $^N$ = triggers nasalization

#### Descendants

* Middle Irish: clam

### Mutation

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in Old Irish. All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

### References

* ↑ Matasović, Ranko (2011 December) “Addenda et corrigenda to Ranko Matasović’s Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic (Brill, Leiden 2009)”, in Homepage of Ranko Matasović‎, Zagreb, page 43

### Further reading

* Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “1 clam”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language