clam

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“
They have tackled that elusive clam -- clam, klan, I said clam, you know the clam demo, the 18 to 35 clam demo

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Definitions (45)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (7)

  1. noun Any of various usually burrowing marine and freshwater bivalve mollusks of the class Pelecypoda, including members of the genera Venus and Mya, many of which are edible.
  2. noun The soft edible body of such a mollusk.
  3. noun Informal A close-mouthed person, especially one who can keep a secret.
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Examples (50)

  • Then he snapped the little phone shut like a clam, and hurled it off the porch into the sand. —  The Beach House
  • Well, those shells once belonged to the sea creature known as the clam.
  • Her studies have shown that some kinds of clams live as long as 150 years, but even the oldest of those studied showed no signs of old age and led active lives, active for a clam, that is.
  • Anyone born on the island is known as a clam digger. —  The Big Apple
  • He just climbed up on that "pooksack", happy as a clam, and wanted Little Black Bear to come in too! —  Little White Fox and his Arctic Friends
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Etymologies (11)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. From obsolete clam-shell, shell that clamps, clam, from clam2.
  2. Middle English, from Old English clam, clamm, bond, fetter.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (9)

  1. (1) Also clamm; from Middle English *clam, *clamme, from Anglo-Saxon clam, clom (clamm-, clomm-), masculine, a band, bond, chain, fetter, in plural clammas, clommas, fetters, confinement, = Middle Dutch klamme, a clamp, hook, grapple, = Middle Low German klamme, Low German klemme, a clamp, hook, = Old High German clamma, Middle High German klamme, klamm, a constriction, a narrow pass, G. dial, klamm, a spasm of the throat, a narrow pass (cf. Middle High German chlemme, klemme, German klemme, a clamp, vise, a pinch, a narrow pass, dial. locked jaw), = Danish klamme, a clamp, cramp, cramp-iron (also klem, force, klemme, a clamp, press, pinch, strait), = Swedish klämma, a press, = Norwegian klemb, force, pressure, klemba, a clamp, press; cf. (2) Middle High German klamere, klamer, clam, hook, German klammer, a clamp, clamp-iron, brace, clincher, bracket, = Danish klammer, a clamp, cramp, cramp-iron (Swedish Danish klammer, brackets, from G.); and (3) Middle High German klamber, klamper, G. dial, klamper = Norwegian klember, khæmb = Icelandic klömbr, a clamp, vise (cf. English clamper); with other similar forms, all derived, with various formatives, in connection with the verbs clam and clem, and with the closely related and in part identical verb clamp, from the preterit *klam (Anglo-Saxon*clam) of an assumed orig. verb, Teutonic (Gothic (Moesogothic)) *kliman (Anglo-Saxon *climman), press or adhere together, stick, to which are also referred clam, clem = cleam = claim (all more or less mixed with clam), cloam, clamber, climb, climp, etc. Clam in ordinary use has been superseded by clamp, q. v. With clam, clamp, compare cram, cramp, which belong to a different group, but agree closely in sense, and may be regarded as variations of the same orig. base.
  2. Chiefly dial., in part denominative of clam, n., and in part a variant of clem (Anglo-Saxon *clemman, etc.: see clem) as the factitive of tho orig. verb which is the common source of clam, n., clam, a., clam, v., and clem, clem, clem, cleam, claim, cloam, etc.: see these words. Cf. clamp, v.
  3. Scots also clem (see clem); from Middle English clam = Middle Dutch, Dutch klam, clammy, moist, = Middle Low German klam, close, fast, rigid, oppressed, discouraged, = Middle High German chlam, klam, close, small, weak, German klamm, narrow, close, scarce, clammy (also Middle High German klemm, close, G. dial, klemm, close, scarce), = Danish klam, clammy, damp; of like origin with clam, n., and clam, v., namely, from the preterit *klam of the orig. verb *kliman, press or adhere together, stick: see clam, n., and clam, v.
  4. Chiefly dial., in part from clam, a., and in part a variant of clame, claim, which is a variant of clem, cleam, q. v.; in meaning and form mixed with and ult. related to clam, clem, q. v.
  5. from clam, a. and v.
  6. Also formerly clamp; being a particular use (prob. through clam-shell, clamp-shell, that is, orig., a shell like a clamp or vise) of clam, n., 1., or the equivalent clamp, n., with reference to the closed ‘jaws’ of this shell-fish. Said by some to have ref. to “the firmness with which some clams adhere to rocks”; but clams do not adhere to rocks.
  7. Cf. Danish klemt, a tolling. The English word is usually associated with clamor, q. v. See clam, v.
  8. Cf. Danish klemte = Swedish klämta, chime, toll. See the noun.
  9. clam, n.
 

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/klæm/
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