Word Direct Answers

What does "clam" mean?

Clam: (Ship Carp.) Strong pinchers or forceps.

Additional senses

  1. 2.pl. (Mech.) A kind of vise, usually of wood. Blood clam. See under Blood.
  2. 3.To clog, as with glutinous or viscous matter. A swarm of wasps got into a honey pot, and there they cloyed and clammed Themselves till there was no getting out again. L'Estrange.
  3. 4.To be moist or glutinous; to stick; to adhere. [R.] Dryden
  4. 5.Claminess; moisture. [R.] "The clam of death." Carlyle.
  5. 6.A crash or clangor made by ringing all the bells of a chime at once. Nares.
  6. 7.To produce, in bell ringing, a clam or clangor; to cause to clang. Nares.

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