clay eater

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(in the South Atlantic States) a term used to refer to a poor, uneducated person from a rural area.

QUIZZES

In effect, this quiz will prove whether or not you have the skills to know the difference between “affect” and “effect.”

Question 1 of 7

The rainy weather could not ________ my elated spirits on my graduation day.

An Americanism dating back to 1835–45

This term refers to the eating of clay-rich dirt, a persistent custom among poor white and Black people in some rural areas of the South.

But two things are clear in this tail-eater of a case: First, there seems to be plenty of guilt but hardly a criminal in sight.
Wrongly Imprisoned for 15 Years Thanks to an Innocence Project|Jacob Siegel|November 13, 2014|DAILY BEAST
But, together, Webster, Clay, and Calhoun delayed the Civil War for 40 years.
Election Day Is Scarier Than Halloween|P. J. O’Rourke|November 1, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Clay engineered the morally indefensible Missouri Compromise.
Election Day Is Scarier Than Halloween|P. J. O’Rourke|November 1, 2014|DAILY BEAST
From the 1820s to the 1850s, the upper house was dominated by Daniel Webster, Henry Clay, and John Calhoun.
Election Day Is Scarier Than Halloween|P. J. O’Rourke|November 1, 2014|DAILY BEAST

It just changed into something quite dark and unattractive with Clay, and was a unique moment in my artistic career.
Ron Perlman's Secret Suicide Attempt|William O’Connor|October 28, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The British had fired 143 cannon shot into the fort before the arrival of Gen. Clay.
The Every Day Book of History and Chronology|Joel Munsell
In the old days every great man kept a toad-eater; sometimes his functions were highly paid—Wolff's are, I fancy.
The Pit Town Coronet, Volume I (of 3)|Charles James Wills
Only the laborers on the plantations smoke small clay pipes.
Tobacco; Its History, Varieties, Culture, Manufacture and Commerce|E. R. Billings.
They use those with long, straight stems, and both their clay and porcelain pipes are of the finest form and finish.
Tobacco; Its History, Varieties, Culture, Manufacture and Commerce|E. R. Billings.
Papier maché buttons came in with Henry Clay's patent in 1778.
Showell's Dictionary of Birmingham|Thomas T. Harman and Walter Showell