Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Clay

Clay (klā), n. [AS. clǣg; akin to LG. klei, D. klei, and perh. to AS. clām clay, L. glus, gluten glue, Gr. γλοιός glutinous substance, E. glue. Cf. Clog.] 1. A soft earth, which is plastic, or may be molded with the hands, consisting of hydrous silicate of aluminium. 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.

Bowlder clay. See under Bowlder. — Brick clay, the common clay, containing some iron, and therefore turning red when burned. — Clay cold, cold as clay or earth; lifeless; inanimate. — Clay ironstone, an ore of iron consisting of the oxide or carbonate of iron mixed with clay or sand. — Clay marl, a whitish, smooth, chalky clay. — Clay mill, a mill for mixing and tempering clay; a pug mill. — Clay pit, a pit where clay is dug. — Clay slate (Min.), argillaceous schist; argillite. — Fatty clays, clays having a greasy feel; they are chemical compounds of water, silica, and aluminia, as halloysite, bole, etc. — Fire clay , a variety of clay, entirely free from lime, iron, or an alkali, and therefore infusible, and used for fire brick. — Porcelain clay, a very pure variety, formed directly from the decomposition of feldspar, and often called kaolin. - - Potter's clay, a tolerably pure kind, free from iron.

Clay, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Clayed; p. pr. & vb. n. Claying.] 1. To cover or manure with clay.

2. To clarify by filtering through clay, as sugar.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.