cloy

[ kloi ]

verb (used with object)

1. to weary by an excess of food, sweetness, pleasure, etc.; surfeit; satiate.

   Synonyms: bore, sate, glut

verb (used without object)

1. to become uninteresting or distasteful through overabundance:

   A diet of cake and candy soon cloys.

cloy

/ klɔɪ /

verb

1. to make weary or cause weariness through an excess of something initially pleasurable or sweet

Other Words From

• over·cloy verb (used with object)
• un·cloyed adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of cloy¹

1350–1400; aphetic variant of Middle English acloyen < Middle French enclo ( y ) er < Late Latin inclāvāre to nail in, equivalent to in- in- ² + -clāvāre, verbal derivative of clāvus nail

Word History and Origins

Origin of cloy¹

C14 (originally: to nail, hence, to obstruct): from earlier acloyen, from Old French encloer , from Medieval Latin inclavāre, from Latin clāvāre to nail, from clāvus a nail

Example Sentences

Over-sentimental and apt to cloy, it is eminently poetical and full of melody.

From Project Gutenberg

The sweets of that sort of thing began to cloy, and I resolved upon immediate action.

From Project Gutenberg

He feasted upon it to satiety as he did with everything else; never having learned not to cloy his appetite by over-feeding.

From Project Gutenberg

The natural result of all which was that I approached the story prepared for the stickiest of American cloy-fiction.

From Project Gutenberg

They cloy the ear, and the mind that has been made sensitive, desiring something of a finer type of stimulation.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• nauseate