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• clay
  clay

  noun

  a natural earthy material that is plastic when wet, consisting essentially of hydrated silicates of aluminum: used for making bricks, pottery, etc.
• Clay
  Clay

  noun

  Bertha M. Charlotte Monica Braeme, 1836–84, English author: originator of a long series of romantic novels.

clay

¹ American  

[kley] / kleɪ /

noun

1. a natural earthy material that is plastic when wet, consisting essentially of hydrated silicates of aluminum: used for making bricks, pottery, etc.

2. earth; mud.

3. earth, especially regarded as the material from which the human body was formed.

4. the human body, especially as distinguished from the spirit or soul; the flesh.

5. human character as estimated according to fineness of constitution, endowments, etc..

   The saints and heroes seem of a different clay from most of us.

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verb (used with object)

1. to treat or mix with clay; cover, daub, or fill with clay.

2. to filter through clay.

Clay ² American  

[kley] / kleɪ /

noun

1. Bertha M. Charlotte Monica Braeme, 1836–84, English author: originator of a long series of romantic novels.

2. Cassius Marcellus, 1810–1903, U.S. antislavery leader and diplomat.

3. Cassius Marcellus, Jr., original name of Muhammad Ali.

4. Henry, 1777–1852, U.S. statesman and orator.

5. Lucius (DuBignon) 1897–1978, U.S. general.

6. a male given name.

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Clay ¹ British  

/ kleɪ /

noun

1. Cassius See Muhammad Ali

2. Henry. 1777–1852, US statesman and orator; secretary of state (1825–29)

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clay ² British  

/ kleɪ /

noun

1. a very fine-grained material that consists of hydrated aluminium silicate, quartz, and organic fragments and occurs as sedimentary rocks, soils, and other deposits. It becomes plastic when moist but hardens on heating and is used in the manufacture of bricks, cement, ceramics, etc

2. earth or mud in general

3. poetic the material of the human body

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verb

1. (tr) to cover or mix with clay

clay Scientific  

/ klā /

1. A stiff, sticky sedimentary material that is soft and pliable when wet and consists mainly of various silicates of aluminum. Clay particles are smaller than silt, having a diameter less than 0.0039 mm. Clay is widely used to make bricks, pottery, and tiles.

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clay Idioms  

More idioms and phrases containing clay

• feet of clay

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Other Word Forms

• clayey
  adjective
• claylike
  adjective
• unclayed
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of clay

First recorded before 1000; Middle English clei, cleigh, Old English clǣg, cognate with Dutch klei, German Klei, akin to glue

Explanation

Clay is a type of soil or dirt that's made of very small particles. You can mold clay into different shapes when it's wet. Clay is terrible for planting a vegetable garden, but it's perfect for making pottery, tiles, or bricks. You can shape damp clay into a bowl or a cup, and when it's dried and fired in a very hot oven, it becomes extremely hard and sturdy. The Old English root of clay is clæg, "stiff, sticky earth."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

clay Clay

Matano beat out dozens of other artists to secure the commission to create the sculpture and, after many months, has completed a preliminary clay art form, according to the release.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 10, 2026

The rock art which the Lost Land Bridge Project has uncovered includes engravings on the cave walls, paintings in ochre and charcoal and line sketches indented into clay and earth by fingertips.

From BBC ● Sep. 4, 2026

The downpour turned the path—uphill, then downhill, then uphill again—into a slick mess of red clay and rock; every step had my blisters screaming in a new language.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 25, 2026

This high-temperature firing process works somewhat like baking clay in a kiln, causing the zirconia particles to fuse together and form a dense, hardened material.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 23, 2026

A wild-eyed girl whose skull was weirdly plastered with yellow clay to give it the roughness of oak bark.

From "Wolf Brother" by Michelle Paver

Co-CEO Clay Magouyrk said on Oracle’s earnings call that the company is constantly finding “interesting ways to fund the business,” beyond spending its own capital.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 10, 2026

Navier-Stokes is one of the seven Millennium Prize Problems, a list of the hardest open questions in mathematics drawn up by the Clay Mathematics Institute.

From Barron's ● Sep. 8, 2026

Longtime Bush friend Clay Johnson recalls that Bush revealed nascent political skill during fraternity hazing at Yale.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2026

When Clay Travis and Buck Sexton took over Rush Limbaugh’s radio slot in 2021 following Limbaugh’s death, it was hard to imagine that anyone could fill the conservative firebrand’s shoes.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 2, 2026

He’d learned to believe from his sister, Pili, and she’d learned from her favorite book of fairy tales, The Way to Rio Luna by Ella St. Clay.

From "The Way to Rio Luna" by Zoraida Cordova

Related Words

• brick
• earth
• mud