Illustration of clam
- a incurrent orifice
- b siphon
- c excurrent orifice
- d mantle
- e shell
- f foot
often attributive
1
a
: any of numerous edible marine bivalve mollusks living in sand or mud
b
: a freshwater mussel
2
: a stolid or closemouthed person
3
4
informal
: dollar sense 3
Synonyms
Examples of clam in a Sentence
Noun (2)
it must take a whole lot of clams to buy a car like that
Recent Examples on the Web
Lane Nieset, Travel + Leisure, 13 May 2024
Ken Steinkamp and Sandy Sikorski were eating clams at a restaurant in Westerly, Rhode Island on Dec. 27, 2021 when Sikorski tasted something pretty odd.
—Saleen Martin, USA TODAY, 11 May 2024
On Monday, Italy’s cabinet approved a military response to curb the wild boar population, along with various other measures to safeguard Italy’s agriculture, including protecting native clams.
—Prarthana Prakash, Fortune Europe, 9 May 2024
In this white miso clam chowder recipe from Osamu Yoshikawa, the sixth-generation owner of bean-to-bottle soy sauce company Inoue Honten in Nara, Japan, the ingredient’s concentrated and complex saltiness beautifully balances the richness of the milky broth.
—Osamu Yoshikawa, Saveur, 9 May 2024
Reduce the heat to medium-low and add the clams to the pot, evenly nestling them into the sauce.
—Lidey Heuck, San Diego Union-Tribune, 8 May 2024
Place the clams in a large bowl along with 1 tablespoon salt, and fill the bowl with cold water.
—Lidey Heuck, San Diego Union-Tribune, 8 May 2024
Move on to jumbo lump crab cakes or a cup of creamy New England clam chowder.
—Ari Bendersky, Peoplemag, 15 Apr. 2024
Image On a recent Sunday in her three-story home near the beach, Kristin Tito was scrolling through Facebook debates over the beach issue while eating clam chowder.
—Sarah Pulliam Bailey, New York Times, 12 Apr. 2024
Alka Tripathy-Lang, Ars Technica, 11 Jan. 2024
The old Florida vibe of Tin City is a throwback to the 1920s when clam, shelling, oyster, and fishing industries were headquartered here.
—Kara Franker, Southern Living, 14 Nov. 2023
There’s something unavoidably primal about prying open an oyster or clam and sucking it from its shell—there’s no way to aesthetically refine the act’s essential ferality.
—Helen Rosner, The New Yorker, 5 Nov. 2023
He was joined by the team’s investigator, Tom Brennan, who worked in clamming and oystering before going into law enforcement.
—Karen Zraick Karsten Moran, New York Times, 14 Sep. 2023
At the Cedar Key Historical Society Museum, which opened its doors and windows on Thursday to dry out, an exhibit said that clamming represented $30 million of the local economy in 2016, producing between 125 million and 150 million clams, or about 90 percent of Florida’s harvest.
—Jacey Fortin, New York Times, 31 Aug. 2023
Tautog Like sheepshead, this Northeast and Mid-Atlantic wreck and reef dweller is highly adept at taking a piece of crab or clam off your hook before the tug even triggers your brain to swing.
—Joe Cermele, Outdoor Life, 24 Aug. 2023
Several people also shared childhood memories of family clamming trips in Arizona.
—The Arizona Republic, 9 Aug. 2023
With buckets and shovels amid a seemingly endless sprawl of mud, clamming can be a dream opportunity for kids who like to get their hands dirty.
—Chris Bieri, Anchorage Daily News, 4 July 2023
Noun
Treatments like the 90-minute signature hot seashell massage — Coquillages d’Azur, performed with polished tiger clam shells and ending with a rejuvenating LED mask — are offered in three treatment rooms (one is outdoors at the beach club), or guests can opt for a massage in-room.
—Lane Nieset, Travel + Leisure, 13 May 2024
Ken Steinkamp and Sandy Sikorski were eating clams at a restaurant in Westerly, Rhode Island on Dec. 27, 2021 when Sikorski tasted something pretty odd.
—Saleen Martin, USA TODAY, 11 May 2024
On Monday, Italy’s cabinet approved a military response to curb the wild boar population, along with various other measures to safeguard Italy’s agriculture, including protecting native clams.
—Prarthana Prakash, Fortune Europe, 9 May 2024
In this white miso clam chowder recipe from Osamu Yoshikawa, the sixth-generation owner of bean-to-bottle soy sauce company Inoue Honten in Nara, Japan, the ingredient’s concentrated and complex saltiness beautifully balances the richness of the milky broth.
—Osamu Yoshikawa, Saveur, 9 May 2024
Reduce the heat to medium-low and add the clams to the pot, evenly nestling them into the sauce.
—Lidey Heuck, San Diego Union-Tribune, 8 May 2024
Place the clams in a large bowl along with 1 tablespoon salt, and fill the bowl with cold water.
—Lidey Heuck, San Diego Union-Tribune, 8 May 2024
Move on to jumbo lump crab cakes or a cup of creamy New England clam chowder.
—Ari Bendersky, Peoplemag, 15 Apr. 2024
Image On a recent Sunday in her three-story home near the beach, Kristin Tito was scrolling through Facebook debates over the beach issue while eating clam chowder.
—Sarah Pulliam Bailey, New York Times, 12 Apr. 2024
Verb
Where cows once grazed, farmland once produced food, and children went clamming (clams prefer sand, not cobbles), the land and habitat were gradually lost to the sea.
—Alka Tripathy-Lang, Ars Technica, 11 Jan. 2024
The old Florida vibe of Tin City is a throwback to the 1920s when clam, shelling, oyster, and fishing industries were headquartered here.
—Kara Franker, Southern Living, 14 Nov. 2023
There’s something unavoidably primal about prying open an oyster or clam and sucking it from its shell—there’s no way to aesthetically refine the act’s essential ferality.
—Helen Rosner, The New Yorker, 5 Nov. 2023
He was joined by the team’s investigator, Tom Brennan, who worked in clamming and oystering before going into law enforcement.
—Karen Zraick Karsten Moran, New York Times, 14 Sep. 2023
At the Cedar Key Historical Society Museum, which opened its doors and windows on Thursday to dry out, an exhibit said that clamming represented $30 million of the local economy in 2016, producing between 125 million and 150 million clams, or about 90 percent of Florida’s harvest.
—Jacey Fortin, New York Times, 31 Aug. 2023
Tautog Like sheepshead, this Northeast and Mid-Atlantic wreck and reef dweller is highly adept at taking a piece of crab or clam off your hook before the tug even triggers your brain to swing.
—Joe Cermele, Outdoor Life, 24 Aug. 2023
Several people also shared childhood memories of family clamming trips in Arizona.
—The Arizona Republic, 9 Aug. 2023
With buckets and shovels amid a seemingly endless sprawl of mud, clamming can be a dream opportunity for kids who like to get their hands dirty.
—Chris Bieri, Anchorage Daily News, 4 July 2023
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'clam.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near clam
Cite this Entry
“Clam.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/clam. Accessed 23 May. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
clam
1 of 2 noun1
: any of numerous edible marine mollusks that have two hinged shells and live in sand or mud
2
: a freshwater mussel
clam
2 of 2 verb
clammed; clamming
: to dig or gather clams
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