clay Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a very fine-grained soil that is plastic when moist but hard when fired
  2. noun water soaked soil; soft wet earth
    mud.
  3. noun United States general who commanded United States forces in Europe from 1945 to 1949 and who oversaw the Berlin airlift (1897-1978)
    Lucius DuBignon Clay; Lucius Clay.
  4. noun United States politician responsible for the Missouri Compromise between free and slave states (1777-1852)
    the Great Compromiser; Henry Clay.
  5. noun the dead body of a human being
    remains; corpse; stiff; cadaver.
    • the cadaver was intended for dissection
    • the end of the police search was the discovery of a corpse
    • the murderer confessed that he threw the stiff in the river
    • honor comes to bless the turf that wraps their clay

WordNet

Clay noun
Etymology
AS. clæg; akin to LG. klei, D. klei, and perh. to AS. clam clay, L. glus, gluten glue, Gr. glutinous substance, E. glue. Cf. Clog.
Definitions
  1. A soft earth, which is plastuc, or may be molded with the hands, consisting of hydrous silicate of alumunium. It is the result of the wearing down and decomposition, in part, of rocks containing aluminous minerals, as granite. Lime, magnesia, oxide of iron, and other ingredients, are often present as impurities.
  2. (Poetry & Script.) Earth in general, as representing the elementary particles of the human body; hence, the human body as formed from such particles.
    I also am formed out of the clay. Job xxxiii. 6.
    The earth is covered thick with other clay, Which her own clay shall cover. Byron.
Clay transitive verb
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Clayed ; present participle & verbal noun Claying
Definitions
  1. To cover or manure with clay.
  2. To clarify by filtering through clay, as sugar.

Webster 1913