Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Close-grained, as stone or wood.
  • Stumpy; squat.
  • noun One of the names current in England for a coarse, impure variety of clay, especially for that commonly occurring in the coal-measures.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Mining) Indurated clay. See bind, n., 3.
  • noun One of the hard beds of the lower chalk.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun UK A traditional building material mostly made of chalk or clay.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun hardened clay

Etymologies

Sorry, no etymologies found.

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Examples

  • Beneath the level of this canal a shaft has been sunk through a grey argillaceous substance, called in this country clunch, which is said to be a pretty certain indication of coal; beneath this lies a stratum of coal, about two or three inches thick, of an inferior kind, yielding little flame in burning, and leaving much ashes; below this is a rock of

    The Botanic Garden A Poem in Two Parts. Part 1: the Economy of Vegetation Erasmus Darwin 1766

  • The soft white stone used for some of the interior decorations is called "clunch," and is found within a few miles of Ely; it is well adapted for the purposes to which it is applied, it is easily worked and capable of being highly finished, but will not bear exposure to the weather.

    Ely Cathedral Anonymous

  • She said her husband thought they would get five hundred pounds out of the silly clunch, he were so simple.

    Morgan’s Run Colleen McCullough 2000

  • She said her husband thought they would get five hundred pounds out of the silly clunch, he were so simple.

    Morgan’s Run Colleen McCullough 2000

  • The silly clunch inhaled, she thought coldly, before she fixed her attention on Ozorne once more.

    The Realms of the Gods Tamora Pierce 1996

  • The silly clunch inhaled, she thought coldly, before she fixed her attention on Ozorne once more.

    The Realms of the Gods Tamora Pierce 1996

  • Once the native bird starts to be broody after laying a clunch of 10-12 eggs, all its eggs are replaced with purebred hatching eggs.

    Chapter 15 1992

  • The hens become broody for a long period after laying a clunch of 10-12 eggs. (farmers control the broodiness of native hens by soaking them in cold water, removing the laid eggs from their nests, or even placing some slat or powdered pepper on their cloaca and also by providing better feeds).

    Chapter 15 1992

  • The work in the choir included new stalls and seats, pulpit, and throne; an altar screen of clunch, filling up the lower part of the apse; and an organ screen, also of clunch, with an open parapet, and enriched with much diaper-work and many canopies, and adorned on the west face with large shields of arms, [17] very brightly coloured, charged with the heraldic bearings of the principal subscribers.

    The Cathedral Church of Peterborough A Description Of Its Fabric And A Brief History Of The Episcopal See W.D. Sweeting

  • One only, manifestly the latest in date, and also in poorest preservation (being carved in clunch), has the mitre; this is now temporarily placed in the New Building; there is little doubt that it represents John Chambers, the last Abbot and first

    The Cathedral Church of Peterborough A Description Of Its Fabric And A Brief History Of The Episcopal See W.D. Sweeting

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