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.

---

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

---

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

In another, weeds frozen under a dusting of snow wilt into a clod of root-tangled soil.

From New York Times ● Mar. 2, 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

I passed through the town on my way to the market and somebody threw it — a clod of dung.

From "Good Masters! Sweet Ladies!: Voices from a Medieval Village" by Laura Amy Schlitz

As Teichman looked on, a few farmhands gingerly coaxed the cuttings out of the plastic sleeves, exposing young roots tangled in clods of soil.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 28, 2023

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

From BBC ● Aug. 17, 2022

I’ve had plenty of experience trying to fend off these clods for years.

From Seattle Times ● Jul. 2, 2018

When it comes to mitigating climate change, soil scientists are most interested in what Silver calls occluded carbon — organic material, often in the form of dead microbes, trapped in clods of dirt.

From New York Times ● Apr. 18, 2018

Swedish style, it was made of logs, chinked with decaying clay, and clogged with clods of moss.

From "The Fighting Ground" by Avi

Related Words

• clodpoll