clam
n. countablen. a type of shellfish with a smooth shell that lives in sand or mud. Many people enjoy eating them in soups or pasta dishes.
n. a marine bivalve mollusc, especially one that is edible and lives buried in sand or mud. Often used in culinary contexts.
We spent the afternoon digging for a fresh clam on the beach.
The chef prepared a traditional linguine with a fresh clam sauce and white wine.
While some species of clam can live for over a century, most are harvested for food within their first few years of growth.
From Middle English clam (“pincers, vice, clamp”), from Old English clam (“bond, fetter, grip, grasp”), from Proto-West Germanic *klammjan (“press, squeeze together”). The sense “dollar” may allude to wampum. The sense "Scientologist" alludes to the Scientologist belief that human thetans (souls) previously inhabited clams.
From Middle English clammen, clemen (“to smear, bedaub”), from Old English clǣman (“to smear, bedaub”). Cognate with German klamm (“clammy”). See also clammy (“damp, cold and sticky”) and clem (“to adhere, stick, plug (a hole)”).