noun
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a lump of earth or clay
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earth, esp when heavy or in hard lumps
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Also called: clodpole. clod poll. clodpate. a dull or stupid person
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a cut of beef taken from the shoulder
Other Word Forms
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."
Vocabulary lists containing clod
The Circuit
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Kindred
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Mexican WhiteBoy
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
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
Doubletree Mutt looked into the barn, his big tail waving provocatively, and Jody was so incensed at his health that he found a hard black clod on the floor and deliberately threw it.
From "The Red Pony" by John Steinbeck
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
