Word.ws English Dictionary

clog

/klɒɡ//klɑɡ/

clog noun: a type of shoe with an inflexible, often wooden sole sometimes with an open heel.

clog: a type of shoe with an inflexible, often wooden sole sometimes with an open heel
Image: Vincent van Gogh, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

clog (plural clogs)

  1. A type of shoe with an inflexible, often wooden sole sometimes with an open heel.
    • Dutch people rarely wear clogs these days.
    • […] as to the poor—just look at them when they come crowding about the church-doors on the occasion of a marriage or a funeral, clattering in clogs; […]1849, Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], “Mr. Donne’s Exodus”, in Shirley. A Tale. […], volume II, London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], →OCLC, page 117
  2. A blockage.
    • The plumber cleared the clog from the drain.
  3. (UK, colloquial) A shoe of any type.
    • I let him in this morning. He lost one of his clogs.1987, Bruce Robinson, Withnail and I, spoken by Withnail
  4. A weight, such as a log or block of wood, attached to a person or animal to hinder motion.
    • Yet as a Dog committed close / For some offence, by chance breaks loose, / And quits his Clog; but all in vain, / He still draws after him his Chain.1663 (indicated as 1664), [Samuel Butler], “The Second Part of Hudibras. Canto III.”, in Hudibras. The First and Second Parts. […], London: […] John Martyn and Henry Herringman, […], published 1678...
    • A clog of lead was round my feet / A band of pain across my brow;1855, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, “The Letters”, in Maud, and Other Poems, London: Edward Moxon, page 115
  5. That which hinders or impedes motion; an encumbrance, restraint, or impediment of any kind.
    • The grand Conſpirator, Abbot of Weſtminster, / With clog of Conſcience, and ſowre Melancholly / Hath yeelded up his body to the graue;1595 December 9 (first known performance), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Richard the Second”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to...
    • All the ancient, honest, juridical principles and institutions of England, are so many clogs to check and retard the headlong course of violence and oppression.1777, Edmund Burke, A Letter from Edmund Burke: Esq; one of the representatives in Parliament for the city of Bristol, to John Farr and John Harris, Esqrs. sheriffs of that city, on the Affairs of...

Verb

clog (third-person singular simple present clogs, present participle clogging, simple past and past participle clogged)

  1. To block or slow passage through (often with 'up').
    • Around 25 million pounds of used Mardi Gras beads are thrown away every year. Several years ago, in 2018, 46 tons of them clogged New Orleans' storm drains after heavy flooding.2026 February 17, Simmone Shah, “Biodegradable Beads Are Helping Mardi Gras Go Green”, in TIME, archived from the original on 25 Feb 2026
    • Hair is clogging the drainpipe.
  2. To encumber or load, especially with something that impedes motion; to hamper.
    • The wings of winds were clogged with ice and snow.1717, John Dryden [et al.], “(please specify |book=I to XV)”, in Ovid’s Metamorphoses in Fifteen Books. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC
  3. To burden; to trammel; to embarrass; to perplex.
    • The commodities […]are clogged with impositions.1705, J[oseph] Addison, Remarks on Several Parts of Italy, &c. in the Years 1701, 1702, 1703, London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC
    • You'll rue the time / That clogs me with this answer.c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...
  4. To enforce a mortgage lender right that prevents a borrower from exercising a right to redeem.
    • For centuries it has been the rule that a mortgagor’s equity of redemption cannot be clogged and that he cannot, as a part of the original mortgage transaction, cut off or surrender his right to redeem. Any agreement which does so is void and unenforceable as against public policy.1973, Humble Oil & Refining Co. v. Doerr, 123 N.J. Super. 530, 544, 303 A.2d 898.
  5. (intransitive) To perform a clog dance.
    • And in a burst of Celtic drums and fiddles, a bosomy colleen with a jaunty green hat and suit jacket riverdanced onto the stage, clogging with a surprising degree of expertise, barely restrained breasts jiggling.2014, Jeff Abbott, Cut and Run

clog meaning in Hindi, Urdu, Bengali and Malayalam

clog in Hindi

to clog, jam
अड़ाना aṛānā

clog in Urdu

کھڑاویں, رکاوٹ

clog in Bengali

কাঠের জুতা, বাধা

clog in Malayalam

മരച്ചെരിപ്പ്, മെതിയടി, തടിക്കട്ട, പ്രതിബന്ധം, തടസ്സം
More languagesFewer languages
clog in Kannada
ಅಡೆ, ತೊಡರು, ಅಡ್ಡಿ
clog in Gujarati
ક્લોગ, ક્લોગ કરો
clog in Odia
କ୍ଲଗ୍ କରନ୍ତୁ, କ୍ଲଗ୍
clog in Nepali
क्लग, क्लग गर्नुहोस्
clog in Arabic
قُبْقَاب qubqāb, قَبْقَاب qabqāb

Examples of clog in a sentence

  • The roads are clogged up with traffic.
  • Her clogs slammed against the pine boards of the staircase and shook the house.2002, Alice Sebold, chapter 5, in The Lovely Bones, Waterville, ME: Thorndike Press, page 92:
  • By the same rule, they must send your mamma her travelling expences, miss; she can't have the clog of a couple of grown daughters at her heels without money in her pocket.1842, [anonymous collaborator of Letitia Elizabeth Landon], chapter LIV, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume III...
  • If we were as rich as your uncle, I should feel it to be both a duty and a pleasure to keep an elegant table; but limited means are a sad clog to one’s wishes.1864 August – 1866 January, [Elizabeth] Gaskell, chapter 56, in Wives and Daughters. An Every-day Story. […], volume (please specify...

All 40 example sentences with clog

Forms of clog

Noun
pluralclogs
Verb
third-person singular presentclogs
present participleclogging
past participleclogged
pastclogged

Past tense of clog: clogged

Plural of clog: clogs

Origin of clog

Unknown; perhaps from Middle English clog (“weight attached to the leg of an animal to impede movement”). Perhaps of North Germanic origin and derived from Proto-Germanic *klumpô (“lump, mass, clasp”); compare Old Norse klugu, klogo (“knotty tree log”), Dutch klomp.

Words formed from clog

Phrases with clog

Words that rhyme with clog

39 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about clog

What does clog mean?
Clog means a type of shoe with an inflexible, often wooden sole sometimes with an open heel.
What is clog in Hindi?
Clog in Hindi is अड़ाना (aṛānā). See Clog meaning in Hindi.
How do you use clog in a sentence?
The roads are clogged up with traffic.
What part of speech is clog?
Clog can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce clog?
Clog is pronounced /klɒɡ/ (UK).
What is the plural of clog?
The plural of clog is clogs.

Words near clog in the dictionary

  1. clofibric acid
  2. clofibride
  3. clofoctol
  4. cloforex
  5. clofozamine
  6. clog
  7. clog almanac
  8. clog almanacs
  9. clog dance
  10. clog dances
  11. clog up

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: clog (page history and authors); अड़ाना (Hindi) (page history and authors); clog (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); clog (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); clog (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); clog (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); clog (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); clog (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); clog (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-clog.wav, LL-Q1860 (eng)-Wodencafe-clog.wav.

Cite this entry: “clog.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/clog. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.