clam

Meaning

Noun

1. A bivalve mollusk of many kinds, especially those that are edible; for example soft-shell clams (Mya arenaria), hard clams (Mercenaria mercenaria), sea clams or hen clams (Spisula solidissima), and other species, possibly originally applied to clams of species Tridacna gigas, a huge East Indian bivalve.
2. (historical, in-plural) A type of strong pincers or forceps.
3. A kind of vise, usually of wood.
4. (US, in-plural, slang) A dollar.
5. (derogatory, slang) A Scientologist.
6. (slang, vulgar) A vagina or vulva.
7. (slang) In musicians' parlance, a wrong or misplaced note.
8. (informal) One who clams up; a taciturn person, one who refuses to speak.
9. (US, dated, slang) mouth (Now found mostly in the expression shut one's clam)

Verb

To dig for clams.

Verb

To produce, in bellringing, a clam or clangor; to cause to clang.

Adj

Clammy.

Verb

1. To be moist or glutinous; to stick; to adhere.
2. To clog, as with glutinous or viscous matter.

Verb

Alternative form of clem (“to starve”).

Synonyms

shellfish

mussel

scallop

shell

🐚

dollar

💵

cockle

buck

dollar bill

dry up

one dollar bill

oyster

🦪

cunt

escallop

scollop

pussy

😺

pipe down

quahog

shut up

snatch

stick

stirrup

tongs

wrap up

belt up

medium-large

piddock

shell stitch

pincer clamp

clamp frame

long surf clam

mussla

adhere

cooche

bivalve

cat

😺

clamp

🗜️

clench

cochlea

cramp

dummy

giant clam

greenback

gripper

hush up

juice

mollusc

mollusk

Translations

palourde

almeja

Muschel

vongola

cloïssa

arsella

istiridye

αχιβάδα

clam

mossel

hemmen

zugeknöpfter Mensch

praire

Venusmuschel

Pronounced as (IPA)

/klæm/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: clam

Inherited from Old English: clamm

Inherited from Middle English: clammen

Inherited from Old English: clǣman

Cognate with German: klamm

In summary

From Middle English clam (“pincers, vice, clamp”), from Old English clamm (“bond, fetter, grip, grasp”), from Proto-West Germanic *klammjan (“press, squeeze together”). The sense “dollar” may allude to wampum. The sense "Scientologist" alludes to the Scientologist belief that human thetans (souls) previously inhabited clams.