Forms: 1 clǽʓ, 4 clai, clei, 4–6 cley, 5–6 claie, 5–7 claye, 6 cleye, kley, 4– clay. [Common Teut.: OE. clǽʓ (ǽ umlaut of á) corresponds to MDu. cleie fem., MLG., LG., Du. and Ger. klei, OFris. klai, mod.Fris. klay, klaey, pointing to an OTeut. *klaijâ- str. fem. (Gothic type *kladdja, ON. *klegg, whence Da. klæg, kleg), f. verbal root kli- (klei-, klai-,) to stick, cleave, with suffix -ja. From same root came *klai-moz, in OE. clám, CLOAM, earth, potter’s clay, with its vb. *klaimjan, in OE. clǽman; see CLEAM, CLAM. Outside Teutonic, Gr. has γλοι-, γλι-, in γλοιός, γλίνη sticky matter, γλία glue, L. glū-s, glū-ten (ū for earlier oi), OSlav. glina clay, glénŭ mud.]
1. A stiff viscous earth found, in many varieties, in beds or other deposits near the surface of the ground and at various depths below it: it forms with water a tenacious paste capable of being molded into any shape, which hardens when dried, and forms the material of bricks, tiles, pottery, and ‘earthenware’ generally.
Clay consists mainly of aluminium silicate, and is derived mostly from the decomposition of felspathic rocks. The various beds are distinguished geologically as boulder, Kimmeridge, London, Oxford, Purbeck Clay, etc. Particular kinds of clay are known as brick, fatty, fire, plastic, porcelain, and potter’s clay; pipe clay, etc.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Gloss., in Wr.-Wülcker, 146. Samia, clæʓ.
c. 1340. Cursor M., 11985 (Trin.). Of cley … made he sparewes twelue.
1382. Wyclif, Wisdom xv. 7. Of the same clei he made … vesselis in to vse.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 80. Cley, argilla glis.
1480. Caxton, Descr. Brit., 5. Whyte clay and reed for to make pottes, crokkes … and othir vessell.
1502. Arnolde, Chron. (1811), 165. And stoppe dilygently his [an apple-tree’s] wounde wyth kley.
1577. B. Googe, Heresbach’s Husb., II. (1586), 95 b. The Hasell Nuttes … delighteth in claie.
1599. Hakluyt, Voy., II. 163. We haue also for scowring our clothes earths and claies; as Walkers clay … little inferior to Sope.
1716. Lond. Gaz., No. 5416/3. Tobacco-Pipe-Clay.
1759. Johnson, Idler, No. 49, ¶ 10. Incumbered with stiff clay.
1802. Mar. Edgeworth, Moral T. (1816), I. 199. Trying experiments upon porcelain clays.
1848. Mill, Pol. Econ., III. xvi. § 2 (1876), 346. Some soils, such as the stiff clays, are better adapted for wheat.
1882. Geikie, Text-bk. Geol., II. II. 81. Pure clay … resulting from the alteration of potash and soda felspars exposed to atmospheric influences, is white.
b. fig. with reference to properties and uses.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 294. Clogged in the claye and slyme of vyce.
c. 1620. A. Hume, Brit. Tongue (1865), 2. Quhiles I stack in this claye, it pleased God to bring your Majestie hame.
1797. Godwin, Enquirer, I. viii. 74. The pupil is the clay in the hands of the artificer.
1847. Tennyson, Princess, VII. 312. Tho’ he trip and fall He shall not blind his soul with clay.
† 2. In early use the tough, sticky nature of the substance appears to have been mainly in view, and the name was applied to other substances of this nature, as to the bitumen of the Vulgate, called in Bible of 1611 ‘slime,’ ‘pitch,’ Gen. xi. 3, vi. 14.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 2500. Þe fiue gaue bak … And fell to in a pitt o clay.
c. 1325. E. E. Allit. P., B. 312. Cleme hit [the ark] with clay comly with-inne.
1382. Wyclif, Gen. xi. 3. Thei hadden … towȝ cley [1388 pitche, 1611 slime] for syment.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Chan. Yem. Prol. & T., 260. Cley maad with hors or mannes her, and oyle Of tartre, alym, glas, berm, wort, and argoyle.
1555. Eden, Decades W. Ind. (Arb.), 187. The toughe cleye of Babilon cauled Bitumen.
1584. R. Scot, Discov. Witchcr., XIV. i. 354. Claie made with horsse doong.
3. Used loosely for: Earth, moist earth, mire, mud; esp. the earth covering or enclosing a dead body when buried.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 1080. Þe bodi mith he na gat hide … Þe clay all vp þe bodi kest.
c. 1300. Song Yesterd., 70, in E. E. P. (1862), 135. Vr careyns chaunged vndur clay.
1382. Wyclif, John ix. 6. He spette in to erthe, and made cley of the spotle.
1535. Coverdale, 2 Sam. xxii. 43. Euen as ye claye of the stretes wil I make them thynne.
1609. Ev. Woman in Hum., I. i. in Bullen, O. Pl., IV. 313. When the foole is clad in clay.
1808. Scott, Marm., III. xxxi. The falcon crest was soiled with clay.
1821. Byron, Cain, II. i. To sojourn With worms in clay.
4. Earth as the material of the human body (cf. Gen. ii. 7); hence, the human body (living or dead) as distinguished from the soul; the earthly or material part of man.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 402. Al gangand best … And adam bath he wroght on clai.
1576. Fleming, Panoplie Ep., 190. To what purpose then, doth vaine glory inflate and puffe up … this brittle bottle framed out of clay?
1611. Shaks., Cymb., IV. ii. 4. Arui. Are we not Brothers? Imo. So man and man should be, But Clay and Clay, differs in dignitie.
1707. Watts, Hymns, Happy the Heart, etc. v. Ere we quite forsake our Clay, Or leave this dark Abode.
1742. Young, Nt. Th., I. 128. This gross impediment of clay remove.
1798. Southey, Ballads, St. Patr. Purg., 5. Belike no living hands may pay This office to your lifeless clay.
1814. Scott, Ld. of Isles, IV. x. Well hast thou done, frail child of clay!
1834. Mrs. Bray, Warleigh, I. xiv. 297. ‘Dressing the clay’—that is, decking the corpse; which was laid out on the bed with various flowers, rosemary, &c.
1887. Stevenson, Underwoods, II. ix. 109. They’re made of a commoner clay, I suppose, Than a gentleman like me.
b. To moisten or wet one’s clay: to drink. (humorous.)
1708. Brit. Apollo, No. 80. 3/1. We were moistening our Clay.
1711. Addison, Spect., No. 72, ¶ 9. To moisten their Clay, and grow immortal by drinking.
a. 1754. Fielding, New Way, etc. II. ii. How should he return to dust Who daily wets his clay?
1864. Lowell, Fireside Trav., 119. When his poor old clay was wet with gin.
5. The application of clay in sugar-refining. Cf. CLAY v. 3.
1765. Univ. Mag., XXXVII. 320/2. Sugar … which has gone through the operation of three clays.
6. Short for clay-pipe: see 9. (colloq.)
[1859. Fairholt, Tobacco (1876), 173. Such long pipes were reverently termed aldermen in the last age and irreverently yards of clay in the present one.]
1863. ‘Ouida,’ Held in Bondage, 1. Filthy bird’s-eye, smoked in clays.
1871. Calverley, Verses & Tr., Ode Tobacco. Jones … Daily absorbs a clay After his labours.
7. attrib. or as adj. Made or consisting of clay (lit., or in sense 4, q.v.).
1523. Fitzherb., Husb., § 10. Sowe thy peas vpon the cley grounde.
1530. Palsgr., 205. Clay wall, paroy dargille.
1624–47. Bp. Hall, Rem. Wks. (1660), 205. We … may be turned out of these clay cottages at an hours warning.
1645. Rutherford, Tryal & Tri. Faith (1845), 203. The weight of a saint’s heaven and hell upon his own clay-shoulders.
1673. A. Walker, Leez Lachrymans, 13. The Clay Floor, Mud Wall, and Thatch.
1843. Portlock, Geol., 106. Clay galls or lumps … occur occasionally in the sandstone.
1854. Ronalds & Richardson, Chem. Technol., I. 218. Clay stoves are necessarily much more bulky than those made of iron.
1886. Stevenson, Dr. Jekyll, ii. 26. Is it the mere radiance of a foul soul that thus transpires through … its clay continent?
8. Comb. a. attrib. ‘of or made of clay,’ as clay-ball, -bank, -bung, -clod, † -clot, -mortar, -plug, -soil, etc. b. ‘pertaining to clay, designed to contain clay,’ as clay-box, -cart, -pea; (sense 4) -dream, -shadow; c. objective, as clay-burning; d. instrumental, as clay-built, -daubed, -greased, adjs.; (sense 4) clay-bound, -dimmed, -wrapped, adjs.; e. similative, as clay-colo(u)r, -colo(u)red adj., -like adj.
1849. Amer. Phil. Soc., V. 708. *Clay-balls placed in the fire increased the amount of heat.
1839. Bailey, Festus, xiv. (1848), 148. Thou wilt forgive, if *clay-bound mind Can scarce discover that thou art.
1768–74. Tucker, Lt. Nat., II. 229. Our *clay-built tabernacles.
1713. Lond. & Country Brewer, II. (1743), 141. The common but considerable Loss that Thousands fall under by *Clay-Bungs.
1875. Agric. Holdings Act 38 & 39 Vict., c. 92 § 5. *Clay-burning, claying of land, liming of land.
1672–95. Brickmakers’ Lament., in Roxb. Ballads, II. 474. A *clay cart they got … And put Lambart in it.
c. 1300. Relig. Songs (1843), 73. Nu lidh the *clei clot al so the ston.
1594. Hooker, Eccl. Pol., IV. (1617), 160. Another doth weare *Clay-Colour.
1659. Vulgar Errours Censured, 5. Clay-colour of old was sacred at Nuptials…; and not onely Red Sandals were in use and esteem, but also *Clay-coloured shooes.
c. 1325. E. E. Allit. P., B. 492. In þat cofer þat watz *clay daubed.
1637. Rutherford, Lett., No. 84 (1862), I. 215. That it [our love] fasten not itself on these *clay-dreams, these clay-shadows, and worldly vanities!
1617. Hieron, Wks., II. 276. When a man is so *clay-like, so stiffe to be wrought vpon.
1823. in W. Cobbett, Rur. Rides (1885), I. 331. Red stiff clay-like loam.
a. 1722. Lisle, Observ. Husb., 193. The Burbage-grey, or popling-pea is much sowed in … Somersetshire, and there called the *clay-pea.
1846. Greener, Sc. Gunnery, 104. The crucible is then stopped, by covering the mouth with tempered clay … as soon as the *clay-plugs are sufficiently hard, [etc.].
9. Special comb.: clay-band, a thin stratum or band of clay; hence clay band ironstone, an earthy variety of Chalybite, one of the commonest ores of iron; clay-bank, a bank of clay; see also, quot.; clay-box (see quot.); clay-brained a., dull, clod-pated; clay-cut a., cut in or through clay; clay-eater, U.S. (see quot.); clay-frame, a frame made of clay; applied to a human body (see sense 4); clay-iron, ‘a tool for crowding clay into leaky bore-holes’ (Raymond, Mining Gloss.); clay iron-ore, clay ironstone, names given to various iron-ores containing much clay, esp. argillaceous hæmatite; clay-kiln, a kiln for burning clay; clay-loam, loam containing a large proportion of clay; clay-maker, -man, one who prepares clay for use in brick-making, etc.; clay-mill, a mill for mixing and tempering clay; clay-pan (Australia), a natural hollow formed of clayey soil and retaining water after rain; clay-pie, a mud-pie; clay-pipe, a tobacco-pipe made of baked clay (pipe-clay); clay-pit, a pit from which clay is dug; † clay-post, applied to the human body; clay-puddle, clay wrought with water to form a water-tight lining for reservoirs, etc. (see PUDDLE); clay-soil, soil composed chiefly or wholly of clay; clay-weed, the Colt’s-foot (Tussilago Farfara); † clay-work, work in baked clay; pottery, etc. See also CLAY-COLD, CLAY-SLATE, CLAY-STONE.
1853. Pharmac. Jrnl., XIII. 118. *Clay-band and ball ironstone.
1851. Mayne Reid, Scalp Hunt., xxiii. [A mare] of that dun-yellowish colour known as *‘clay-bank.’
1612. Sturtevant, Metallica (1854), 101. The Presse-moulde consisteth of these general parts. 1. Two *clay-boxes.
1596. Shaks., 1 Hen. IV., II. iv. 250. Why thou *Clay-brayn’d Guts, thou Knotty-pated Foole.
1851. Mayne Reid, Scalp Hunt., xli. The *clay-cut channels of the arroyos.
1854. Mary Langdon, Ida May, 440 (Bartlett, Dict. Amer.). *‘Clay-eaters.’… Subsisting principally upon ‘turpentine whiskey,’ and appeasing their craving for more substantial food by filling their stomachs with a kind of aluminous earth which abounds everywhere…. They … are looked down upon by the negroes with a contempt which they return by a hearty hatred.
1614. T. White, Sapphicks, in Farr, S. P. Jas. I. (1848), 358. Here’s thy *clay-frame,—God, doe with it thy pleasure; Here’s thine owne semblant by my sinnes abused.
1888. J. Prestwich, Geol., II. 94. When instead of the *clay-iron-ores the shales contain iron-pyrites.
1843. Portlock, Geol., 226. *Clay-ironstone.
1662. Gerbier, Princ., 21. If the *Clay-makers did beat the Clay as it ought to be.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 114/1. Dauber, or *cleymann, argillarius, bituminarius.
1649. G. Daniel, Trinarch. Rich. II., ccxxvi. Shee’s gone to Schoole; her Cross-row and Crow feet Hinder the Huswiferye of her *Clay-pies.
1876. Modern Christianity, 19. We made ourselves … snug … over a couple of long *clay pipes.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 80. *Cleypytte, argillarium.
1483. Cath. Angl., 65. A Clapitte.
1611. Cotgr., Argiliere, a clay-pit, or, a plot wherein Potters clay is gotten.
1645. Rutherford, Tryal & Tri. Faith (1845), 4. How many hundred hours in one summer doth our breathing *clay-post skip over.
1828. Steuart, Planter’s G., 499. A good wall of well-made *clay-puddle.
1878. Britten & Holland, Plant-n., *Clayweed, Tussilago Farfara, from its partiality to clay soils.
1612. Sturtevant, Metallica (1854), 82. Tiles and bricks and all other *clayworks.
