clang

Noun

clang (plural clangs)

1. A loud, ringing sound, like that made by free-hanging metal objects striking each other; usually, one considered more jarring than melodious.
   • Bang, bang, Maxwell's silver hammer
     Came down upon her head
     Clang, clang, Maxwell's silver hammer
     Made sure that she was dead1969, Paul McCartney, “Maxwell's Silver Hammer”, in Abbey Road, performed by The Beatles
2. Quality of tone.
3. The cry of some birds, including the crane and the goose.
4. A word or phrase linked only by sound and not by meaning, characteristic of some mental disorders.
   • For much of this day, Mrs Y. wrote in her diary, covering page after page in a rapid scrawl full of paligraphic repetitions, puns, clangs, and violent, perseverative crossings-out […]1973, Oliver Sacks, Awakenings

Verb

clang (third-person singular simple present clangs, present participle clanging, simple past and past participle clanged)

1. (transitive) To strike (objects) together so as to produce a clang.
   • Around, the first Curetes (order solemn / To thy foreknowing mother!) trod tumultuous / Their mystic dance, and clanged their sounding arms; [...]a. 1722 (date written), Matthew Prior, “The First Hymn of Callimachus. To Jupiter.”, in The Poetical Works of Matthew Prior […], Edinburgh: James Nichol, […], published 1858, →OCLC, page 207, lines...
   • A dented metal punching bag waiting to be clanged; a solitary object in the rhino's cage.2020, “Zoo”, in Still at the Rough Cusp of Renaissance, performed by Good Fuck
2. (intransitive) To give out a clang; to resound.
   • Middlesbrough will wonder whether it might have been different if the volley that Jelle Vossen slashed towards John Ruddy’s net after nine minutes had been a couple inches lower rather than clanging off the crossbar. They should not dwell on that moment too long, however.2015 May 25, Daniel Taylor, “Norwich reach Premier League after early blitz sees off Middlesbrough”, in The Guardian (London)
   • A cell door clanged metallically and Wentworth was flung inside. He tripped, collapsed upon the concrete floor.1933, Norvell Page, Wings of the Black Death
3. To utter a word or phrase linked only by sound and not by meaning, characteristic of some mental disorders.

Interjection

1. Imitative of a loud metallic ringing sound.
2. (humorous) Said after someone has name-dropped (mentioned a famous person with whom they are acquainted).