clammy

From Middle English clam (“viscous, sticky; slimy”) +‎ -y, from Old English clǣman (“to smear, bedaub”). Compare German klamm (“clammy”) and klemmen (“to be stuck, stick”). See also clam.

• IPA^(key): /ˈklæmi/

• Audio (US):

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• Rhymes: -æmi

clammy (comparative clammier, superlative clammiest)

1. Cold and damp, usually referring to hands or palms.

   His hands were clammy from fright.

   • 1627 (indicated as 1626), Francis [Bacon], “VII. Century.”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], London: […] William Rawley […]; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], →OCLC:

     The cause is a temperate conglutination ; for both bodies are clammy and viscous , and do bridle the deflux of humours to the hurts , without penning them in too much

   • 1919, Christopher Morley, The Haunted Bookshop‎^[1], New York, N.Y.: Grosset & Dunlap Publishers, →OCLC, page 171:

     Then he could see the modest bookseller, somewhat clammy in his extremities and lost within his academic robe and hood, nervously fidgeting his mortar-board, haled forward by ushers, and tottering rubescent before the chancellor, provost, president (or whoever it might be) who hands out the diploma.

   • 2010 December, Sharon Orsack, “Chapter One”, in Bobby & Me: A Novel, Tate Publishing & Enterprises, →ISBN, page 9:

     Jenny Lee reached out and took hold of the man’s hand. It was cold and clammy, a deadlike feeling.

2. (medicine) The quality of normal skin signs, epidermis that is neither diaphoretic nor dry.