Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- intransitive verb To cause distaste or disgust by supplying with too much of something originally pleasant, especially something rich or sweet; surfeit.
- intransitive verb To be too filling, rich, or sweet.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To stroke with a claw.
- noun An artificial mixture of plastic character, in this respect resembling clay.
- To pierce; gore.
- In farriery, to prick (a horse) in shoeing.
- To stop up; obstruct; clog.
- To spike; drive a spike into the vent of: as, to
cloy a gun. - To satiate; gratify to repletion or so as to cause loathing; surfeit; sate.
- Synonyms Sate, etc. (see
satisfy ), pall, glut, gorge.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- transitive verb obsolete To fill or choke up; to stop up; to clog.
- transitive verb To glut, or satisfy, as the appetite; to satiate; to fill to loathing; to surfeit.
- transitive verb To penetrate or pierce; to wound.
- transitive verb obsolete To spike, as a cannon.
- transitive verb obsolete To stroke with a claw.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb transitive To
fill up orchoke up ; tostop up . - verb transitive To
clog , toglut , orsatisfy , as theappetite ; tosatiate . - verb transitive To fill to
loathing ; tosurfeit .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb cause surfeit through excess though initially pleasing
- verb supply or feed to surfeit
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
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Examples
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Bad as was to me this detection by San Carlo, this-frost in July, this blow from a bride, there was still a worse, namely the cloy or satiety of the saints.
Representative Men 2006
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In the words of this table _oi_ and _oy_ are pronounced alike. coy coil join loin toil soil foist boil coin cloy point broil joist hoist joint enjoy voice royal noise spoil moist avoid choice annoy doily employ oyster anoint poison boiler
The Beacon Second Reader Edna T. [Illustrator] Hart 1899
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Yet predictable and familiar though they may be, in "Falling Skies" they do not cloy.
Hollow Points and Cream Puffs Nancy deWolf Smith 2011
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I played it several times and it was OK but after a while the game sarted to cloy on me.
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The fact that I first met it as part of a pavlova didn't help: the deep clouds of snow-white sugar-cake need a fruit with a sting in its tail (the Antipodeans are bang on with their inclusion of passion fruit) if the dessert isn't to cloy.
Tender delights Nigel Slater 2010
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Not that she found kisses were not sweet, but that she feared with repetition they would cloy.
WHEN GOD LAUGHS 2010
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Yet predictable and familiar though they may be, in "Falling Skies" they do not cloy.
Hollow Points and Cream Puffs Nancy deWolf Smith 2011
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Something in this resembles the versatile split-second shift from cloy to edge, from acrid to sentiment and back again, in Emin's work; the neon Be Faithful to your dreams (1998) next to Good Smile Great Come (2000) next to MY CUNT IS WET WITH FEAR (1998) next to Love is What You Want (2011).
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In the kitchen I find adding lemon, in the form of syrup, zest or juice, has a dazzling effect, removing at once their tendency to cloy.
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Hitchcock is not cloy or vague about what happens to Marion.
Scary vs. Horrifying 2010
Prolagus commented on the word cloy
"Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale
Her infinite variety: other women cloy
The appetites they feed, but she makes hungry
Where most she satisfies."
(William Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra)
August 24, 2008
frindley commented on the word cloy
Ooh, that's good. In every way.
August 24, 2008
rolig commented on the word cloy
Wonderful, Prolagus! While of course I know and love the word cloying, it never occurred to me to wonder about the verb it comes from. Now I've added it to my "old but still juicy" list.
I love the quote: "she makes hungry / where most she satisfies" – delicious. That Bill Shakespeare sure could write.
August 24, 2008