clod

[klod]

noun

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.

clod

/ 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

Other Word Forms

• cloddily adverb
• cloddiness noun
• clodlike adjective
• cloddy adjective
• cloddishness noun
• cloddishly adverb
• cloddish adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of clod¹

1400–50; late Middle English clodde, Old English clod- (in clodhamer fieldfare); cloud

Word History and Origins

Origin of clod¹

Old English clod- (occurring in compound words) lump; related to _cloud

Example Sentences

These alleged tactics included slashing car tires, throwing dirt clods at surfers descending the bluffs and full-on fistfights in the water.

From Los Angeles Times

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

So many fit the man-child: “light of brain,” “clod of wayward marl,” “bolting-hutch of beastliness,” but specifically to his inability to speak the truth there’s the perfect “infinite and endless liar, an hourly promise-breaker.”

From Salon

As Teichman looked on, a few farmhands gingerly coaxed the cuttings out of the plastic sleeves, exposing young roots tangled in clods of soil.

From Los Angeles Times

To be fair, there is more to Johnson's story than him simply being a clod when it came to dogs.

From Salon

Related Words

• clodpoll