clam

¹ American  

[klam] / klæm /

noun

1. any of various bivalve mollusks, especially certain edible species.

2. Informal. a secretive or silent person.

3. clamminess.

4. Slang. a dollar or the sum of a dollar.

   I only made 60 clams a week.

---

verb (used without object)

clammed, clamming

1. to gather or dig clams.

verb phrase

1. clam up to refuse to talk or reply; refrain from talking or divulging information.

   The teacher asked who had thrown the eraser, but the class clammed up.

clam ² American  

[klam] / klæm /

noun

1. British Dialect. clamp.

2. Machinery. (formerly) pincers.

---

clam ¹ British  

/ klæm /

noun

1. any of various burrowing bivalve molluscs of the genera Mya, Venus, etc. Many species, such as the quahog and soft-shell clam, are edible and Tridacna gigas is the largest known bivalve, nearly 1.5 metres long

2. the edible flesh of such a mollusc

3. informal a reticent person

---

verb

1. (intr) to gather clams

clam ² British  

/ klæm /

verb

1. a variant of clem

---

clam Idioms  

More idioms and phrases containing clam

• happy as the day is long (as a clam)

---

Other Word Forms

• clamlike adjective
• clammer noun

Etymology

Origin of clam¹

First recorded in 1500–10; short for clam-shell, i.e., bivalve with a shell that clamps; clam ², shell

Origin of clam²

First recorded before 1000; Middle English; Old English, derivative of clam(m), clom(m), “fetter, clasp, bandage”; cognate with German Klamm “fetter, constriction”; akin to clamp

Example Sentences

The question prompts Epstein to clam up: “Send me a number to call I don’t like records of these conversations.”

From The Wall Street Journal

The fiber comes from byssus threads produced by Pinna nobilis, a large Mediterranean clam that uses these threads to attach itself to rocks.

From Science Daily

It was far from Togbe’s, but his grandfather had been a fisherman too, and his grandmother a clam trader.

From Literature

Occasionally a herd of hippocamps would come and swim alongside the boats, or a mermaid would approach a fisherman, playing a tune on a flute made from a razor clam.

From Literature

Anyone beyond the land of candlepin bowling and cringing at red clam chowder thought they had a better shot at finishing at the bottom of the standings than reaching the Super Bowl.

From The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• mollusk