clod

American  

[klod] / klɒd /

noun

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

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

Etymology

Origin of clod

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

Example Sentences

Frederick threw a clod of dirt at me.

From Literature

Boaz played with the sleeve of his hoodie, trying to pick off the dirt clods that still clung to it.

From Literature

“Will There Ever Be Another You” is a mixed bag; readers must sift through “clods” of ornate prose to pluck nuggets of gold.

From Los Angeles Times

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

So many fit the man-child: “light of brain,” “clod of wayward marl,” “bolting-hutch of beastliness,” but specifically to his inability to speak the truth there’s the perfect “infinite and endless liar, an hourly promise-breaker.”

From Salon

Related Words

• clodpoll