15 February 2015

clod

[klod]

noun
1. a lump or mass, especially of earth or clay.
2. a stupid person; blockhead; dolt.
3. earth; soil.
4. something of lesser dignity or value, as the body as contrasted with the soul:
this corporeal clod.
5. a part of a shoulder of beef.

Origin
late Middle English Old English
1400-1450; late Middle English clodde, Old English clod- (in clodhamer fieldfare); see cloud

Related forms
cloddily, adverb
cloddiness, noun
clodlike, adjective
cloddy, adjective

Synonyms
2. boor, yokel, lout, oaf, dunce.

Dictionary.com

Examples from the web for clod
– Chipping off a clod or two, he reveals silvery veins of ice.
– Spray the clod and wait a minute or two before dropping the clod in a jar of water.
– She will also help create and deploy the clod cards.

Anagram

cold

Today’s aphorism

I’d rather die of passion than of boredom.

– Vincent Van Gogh

On this day

15 February 1989 – the last Soviet troops leave Afghanistan after a 10 year occupation referred to as the Soviet Union’s ‘Vietnam’. The Soviets had invaded on 24 December 1979 in response to Afghan insurgents (armed by the United States) who had been attacking Soviet troops. The occupation lasts for 10 years and results in the deaths of between 600,000 and 2,000,000 Afghan civilians, as well as 6,000,000 refugees who fled to Pakistan and Iran. The cost of the Afghan occupation is a significant factor that led to the economic collapse of the Soviet Union. During the Soviet occupation, the United States funded Afghan resistance in the form of the Mujahideen and other militant Islamic groups, out of whom emerged Al Qaeda and the Taliban. The Afghan people continue to suffer and to comprise a significant portion of global refugee numbers because of the involvement of the USSR and the USA during this period.