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

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

From New York Times ● Mar. 2, 2023

Tau proteins play an important role in stabilizing neurons, but with age, they can start to clod together, forming tangles that are neurotoxic and can jam themselves into the entire intracellular space of a neuron.

From Salon ● Dec. 20, 2022

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 turn and see a hardened clod of dirt on the ground.

From "Internment" by Samira Ahmed

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

From BBC ● Aug. 17, 2022

When you play sports on grass fields, it’s inevitable that you’ll bring home clods of dirt stuck to your cleats: Call them shoevenirs.

From Washington Post ● Aug. 23, 2018

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

Once we cleared the weeds, we broke mud clods with short hoes and shovels.

From "Breaking Through" by Francisco Jiménez

Related Words

• clodpoll