clod

American  

[klod] / klɒd /

noun

• clods
  plural

1. 

   a lump or mass, especially of earth or clay.

2. a stupid person; blockhead; dolt.

   Synonyms:

   dunce, oaf, lout, yokel, boor

3. earth; soil.

4. something of lesser dignity or value, as the body as contrasted with the soul.

   this corporeal clod.

5. a part of a shoulder of beef.

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clod British  

/ klɒd /

noun

1. a lump of earth or clay

2. earth, esp when heavy or in hard lumps

3. Also called: clodpole, clod poll, clodpate. a dull or stupid person

4. a cut of beef taken from the shoulder

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• cloddiness
  noun
• cloddishness
  noun
• cloddish
  adjective
• cloddy
  adjective
• clodlike
  adjective
• cloddily
  adverb
• cloddishly
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• clods
  plural

Etymology

Origin of clod

1400–50; late Middle English clodde, Old English clod- (in clodhamer fieldfare); see cloud

Explanation

A clod is a lump or chunk of something. You begin the process of making a bowl by throwing a clod of clay onto a potter's wheel. Clod usually describes a mass or ball of dirt: "She intended to plant vegetables in her yard, but found the soil was full of hard clods and stones." An annoyingly awkward person can also be called a clod: "He always says the wrong thing — he's such a clod." The word comes from clot, which originally meant "a mass," and comes from the German Klotz, "lump or block."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

clod clods

Whether it's a twig, a pebble or a clod of dirt, the randomness you get on a large scale is the same.

From Science Daily ● Mar. 12, 2024

To be fair, there is more to Johnson's story than him simply being a clod when it came to dogs.

From Salon ● May 20, 2023

The one of Rizzo, which was taken down on June 2, makes him look like a misshapen clod in an awkwardly buttoned jacket.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 26, 2020

If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were. as well as if a manor of thy friend’s or of thine own were.

From New York Times ● Jan. 4, 2018

He put his hoe down into the ground with a long even movement and with great care, breaking up the tiniest clod in the soft earth already well cultivated.

From "The Good Earth" by Pearl S. Buck

Even the venal clods burst to complicated life.

From New York Times ● Mar. 13, 2023

It might form big clods that damage the crop or cut it into pieces.

From BBC ● Aug. 17, 2022

Prowling in groups of three and four, the glossy birds yanked up clumps of grass and poked through the exposed clods.

From Seattle Times ● Jan. 10, 2021

But in eight weeks, I fear Boorish clods will appear Dressed as pathogens for Halloween.

From Washington Post ● Sep. 3, 2020

Taran shouted at her, but the clods continued flying at a great rate.

From "The Book of Three" by Lloyd Alexander

Related Words

• clodpoll