- a type of heavy, sticky earth that becomes hard when it is baked and is used to make things such as pots and bricks
- Not much can grow in the wet clay here.
- She moulded the clay into the shape of a head.
- The tiles are made of clay.
Extra ExamplesTopics Artb2- a figure made of clay
- plants that grow in damp clay
- Clay tends to dry out and crack in the summer months.
- Digging the heavy clay soil gave me backache.
- You'll need a lump of modelling clay.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- heavy
- fine
- soft
- …
- lump
- mould/mold
- shape
- bake
- …
- modelling/modeling
- mould/mold
- in clay
Word OriginOld English clǣg, of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch klei, also to cleave ‘to stick fast’ and climb.
Idioms
See clay in the Oxford Advanced American DictionarySee clay in the Oxford Learner's Dictionary of Academic Englishhave feet of clay
- to have a fault or weakness in your character
- When the actor was imprisoned for drug offences, his fans were upset to find that their hero had feet of clay.
Check pronunciation:
clay