clinker en · NOUN · etymology 1
Pronunciation
- (Southern-England) audio
- /ˈklɪŋkə(ɹ)/ (UK)
- /ˈklɪŋkɚ/ (General-American)
Etymology
From Dutch klinkaerd, later klinker, from klinken (“to ring, resound”).
Meanings
-
(countable, uncountable) A very hard brick used for paving customarily made in the Netherlands.
She left the road at the little shed where he whom she still regarded as her father used to keep his tricycle, and walked up the clinker path towards the house.
1938, Xavier Herbert, chapter XXXII, in Capricornia, New York: D. Appleton-Century, published 1943, page 581:
- (countable, uncountable) A mass of bricks fused together by intense heat.
-
(countable, uncountable) Slag or ash produced by intense heat in a furnace, kiln or boiler that forms a hard residue upon cooling.
Cold and grim sat that malevolent brute the furnace, greedy, bottomless—its grate bars clenched over clinkers which no shaker could dislodge.
1944, Emily Carr, “Dew and Alarm Clocks”, in The House of All Sorts:The coal was terrible stuff—Indian, Abdul told me. The "dart" was used often and I saw some monster clinkers.
1942 July-August, Philip Spencer, “On the footplate in Egypt”, in Railway Magazine, page 208:
- (countable, uncountable) An intermediate product in the manufacture of Portland cement, obtained by sintering limestone and alumino-silicate materials such as clay into nodules in a cement kiln.
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(countable, uncountable) Hardened volcanic lava.
This wall of rock, which had no doubt once formed the lip of the crater, was about a mile and a half thick, and still covered with clinker.
1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:Nobody could pretend that a huge slope of clinker is aesthetically pleasing.
2004, Richard Fortey, The Earth, Folio Society, published 2011, page 10:
- (countable, uncountable) A scum of oxide of iron formed in forging.
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| clinkers | Number=Plur | lexicographic | |
| klinker | alternative, dated | lexicographic |
Deriveds
clinker-work · clinker block · clinkery · Dutch clinker · clinkerer
Synonyms
Translations (27)
fi klinkkeri (very hard brick for paving) · ru голла́ндский кирпи́ч (very hard brick for paving) · hy կլինկեր (very hard brick for paving) · bg сгурия (slag or ash) · fi klinkkeri (intermediate product) · kk клинкер (very hard brick for paving) · oc escòria (slag or ash) · cmn 爐渣 /炉渣 (slag or ash) · fi pajahilse (scum of iron oxide) · ru шлак (slag or ash) · bg шлака (slag or ash) · cs slínek (intermediate product) · csb klinker (very hard brick for paving) · nl klinker (very hard brick for paving) · de Schlacke (slag or ash) · nl klinker (slag or ash) · pt clinker (intermediate product) · sv klinker (very hard brick for paving) · fi kovettunut laava (hardened lava) · cmn 煤渣 (slag or ash) · ja クリンカー (slag or ash) · ca cagaferro (slag or ash) · pt clínquer (intermediate product) · fi kuona (slag or ash) · hy կլինկեր (intermediate product) · ru кли́нкер (very hard brick for paving) · hy կլինկեր (slag or ash)