What is "clam"

Clam \Clam\ (kl[a^]m), n. [Cf. Clamp, Clam, v. t., Clammy.]

1. (Zo["o]l.) A bivalve mollusk of many kinds, especially those that are edible; as, the long clam ( Mya arenaria), the quahog or round clam ( Venus mercenaria), the sea clam or hen clam ( Spisula solidissima), and other species of the United States. The name is said to have been given originally to the Tridacna gigas, a huge East Indian bivalve.

   You shall scarce find any bay or shallow shore, or cove of sand, where you may not take many clampes, or lobsters, or both, at your pleasure.
   --Capt. John Smith (1616).

   Clams, or clamps, is a shellfish not much unlike a cockle; it lieth under the sand.
   --Wood (1634).

2. (Ship Carp.) Strong pinchers or forceps.

3. pl. (Mech.) A kind of vise, usually of wood.

   Blood clam. See under Blood.

Clam \Clam\ (cl[a^]m), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Clammed; p. pr. & vb. n. Clamming.] [Cf. AS. cl[ae]man to clam, smear; akin to Icel. kleima to smear, OHG. kleimjan, chleimen, to defile, or E. clammy.] 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.

Clam \Clam\, v. i. To be moist or glutinous; to stick; to adhere. [R.]
--Dryden

Clam \Clam\, n. Claminess; moisture. [R.] ``The clam of death.''
--Carlyle.

Clam \Clam\, n. [Abbrev. fr. clamor.] A crash or clangor made by ringing all the bells of a chime at once.
--Nares.

Clam \Clam\, v. t. & i. To produce, in bell ringing, a clam or clangor; to cause to clang.
--Nares.

bivalve mollusk, c.1500, in clam-shell, originally Scottish, apparently a particular use from Middle English clam "pincers, vice, clamp" (late 14c.), from Old English clamm "bond, fetter, grip, grasp," from Proto-Germanic *klam- "to press or squeeze together" (cognates: Old High German klamma "cramp, fetter, constriction," German Klamm "a constriction"). If this is right then the original reference is to the shell. Clam-chowder attested from 1822. To be happy as a clam is from 1833, but the earliest uses do not elaborate on the notion behind it, unless it be self-containment.

"to dig for clams," 1630s, American English, from clam (n.). Clam up "be quiet" is 1916, American English, but clam was used in this sense as an interjection mid-14c.

Etymology 1 n. A bivalve mollusk of many kinds, especially those that are edible; as, the long clam ((taxlink Mya arenaria species noshow=1)), the quahog or round clam (''Venus mercenaria''), the sea clam or hen clam ((taxlink Spisula solidissima species noshow=1)), and other species of the United States. The name is said to have been given originally to the (taxlink Tridacna gigas species noshow=1), a huge East Indian bivalve. vb. To dig for clams. Etymology 2

n. A crash or clangor made by ringing all the bells of a chime at once. vb. To produce, in bellringing, a clam or clangor; to cause to clang. Etymology 3

n. clamminess; moisture vb. 1 To be moist or glutinous; to stick; to adhere. 2 To clog, as with glutinous or viscous matter.

1. v. gather clams, by digging in the sand by the ocean

2. [also: clamming, clammed]

1. n. burrowing marine mollusk living on sand or mud

2. a piece of paper money worth one dollar [syn: dollar, dollar bill, one dollar bill, buck]

3. flesh of either hard-shell or soft-shell clams

4. [also: clamming, clammed]

"Clam" is an informal term used to refer to any molluscans within Class Bivalvia.

Remains first appeared in Cambrian age rocks 510 million years ago. They presently live in both freshwater and marine habitats, and range in adult size from nearly microscopic to the giant clam, which can weigh . Some have life cycles of only one year, while at least one has been discovered that may be over 500 years old. They lack heads but most can react to changes in light and some, such as the scallops, have rudimentary eyes. Though a common food item, many are too small to be useful as food, and not all species are considered palatable. All clams have two calcareous shells or valves joined near a hinge structure with a flexible ligament, and all are filter feeders.

Clams are saltwater or freshwater mollusks that have two hinged shells.

Clam may also refer to:

• Clam AntiVirus, a free antivirus program
• Clam, Charente-Maritime, a commune in the Charente-Maritime département, in France
• Clam (Camp Kidney), a fictional character in the animated television series Camp Lazlo
• CLAM (C++ Library for Audio and Music), a software framework for audio data processing
• CLaMS (Chemical Lagrangian Model of the Stratosphere), a modular chemistry transport model system
• "Clams", an episode of the animated television series SpongeBob SquarePants (season 3)

• KLAM

CLAM (C++ Library for Audio and Music) is an open-source framework for research and application development in the audio and music domain. It is based on the concept of data-processing modules linked into a network. Modules can perform complex audio signal analysis, transformations and synthesis. CLAM also provides a uniform interface to common tasks within audio applications, such as accessing audio devices and audio files. CLAM serves as a library for C++ application development, but a graphical interface also allows full applications to be built without coding. It won the 2006 ACM Multimedia Open Source Competition.