clam: [OE] Old English clam meant ‘something for tying up or fastening, fetter’; it can be traced back to a prehistoric Germanic base *klam-, which also produced clamp [14] and is related to climb. There is a gap in the word’s history in early Middle English times, but it reappears at the end of the 14th century in the sense ‘clamp’, and in the 16th century it was applied, originally in Scotland, to the mollusc which now bears the name, apparently on the grounds that its two shells close like the jaws of a clamp or vice. => clamp, climb
clam (n.)
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.
clam (v.)
"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.
clam 词组搭配
clam up 【非正式用语】
To refuse to talk.
拒绝讲话
clam 英文释义
1. burrowing marine mollusk living on sand or mud
2. a piece of paper money worth one dollar
3. flesh of either hard-shell or soft-shell clams
clam 双语例句
1. The barnacle and the clam are two examples of filter feeders.
藤壶和蛤类是滤过觅食者的两种例子.
来自辞典例句
2. It'started off well, but he seemed to clam up towards the end.
刚开始很, 但是最后他似乎有些沉默.
来自辞典例句
3. The movie star is a clam about her age.
这影星对她的年龄守口如瓶.
来自辞典例句
4. Everybody shuts up like a clam as soon as you mention it.
你一提及此事,大家便都闭口不言.
来自辞典例句
5. He is now as happy as a clam.
他现在相当满足.
来自辞典例句
clam 实用场景例句
The barnacle and the clam are two examples of filter feeders.
藤壶和蛤类是滤过觅食者的两种例子.
辞典例句
It'started off well, but he seemed to clam up towards the end.
刚开始进行得很好，但是最后他似乎有些沉默。
辞典例句
The movie star is a clam about her age.
这影星对她的年龄守口如瓶.
辞典例句
Everybody shuts up like a clam as soon as you mention it.
你一提及此事,大家便都闭口不言.
辞典例句
He is now as happy as a clam.
他现在相当满足.
辞典例句
You should not clam up on him.
你不应该拒绝跟他谈话.
辞典例句
Will you clam up! The boss is talking.
请你保持安静! 老板在说话.
辞典例句
You can't talk with those peasants. They can clam up as well as the Foreign Office.
你不能跟那些农民谈话. 他们象外交部一样,可能一点口气也不漏.
辞典例句
Whenever Bev walked by, Roy got so nervous he would just clam up.
每当Bev走过时, Roy总是紧张得说不出话来.
辞典例句
She would make clam chowder every Sunday night, clam chowder and combread.
她每个星期天都做蛤肉杂烩, 蛤肉杂烩和玉米饼.
无师自通 校园英语会话
Chicken vegetable or clam chowder.
鸡汤,蛤肉浓汤.
无师自通 校园英语会话
Today we have chicken noodle, tomato and clam chowder.
女招待:今天有鸡面 、 蕃茄、杂烩汤.
互联网
I picked plenty of colorful clam shells along the seaside.
我在海边捡了好多彩色蚌壳.
互联网
Normally chatty Mckinsey partners clam up when asked about the race.
平时喋喋不休的麦肯锡合伙人在被问及这场“赛马”的时候三缄其口.
互联网
People and cars go back the busy streets, clam as the reality.
