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🐚 A sea animal 🍲 Edible meat 💵 A dollar 🤐 To stop talking 🦑 To dig clams
clam

clam

19 9.6
An informal US word for one dollar
  • noun
  • /klæm/
  • Slang
translation icon : dólar
  • If you save a few clams each week, you'll be able to buy the new phone in no time.
  • get clams
  • a hundred clams
  • fifty clams

Examples

  • Want me to throw in some clams?

    Fiction book (1999)

  • Some clams, I'm gonna send right over.

    Boogie Nights (1997)

  • It's a little book, and it is a very good book, but 15 clams for such a small book?

    Blog text (30)

  • Have the body and let's say fifty thousand clams for our trouble.

    The Big White (2005)

  • Two hundred clams.

    Being John Malkovich (1999)

  • 100 million clams!

    Hudson Hawk (1991)

  • Fifty clams for a piggy-back ride... a hundred clams!

    Fiction book (1994)

  • Fifty clams apiece.

    Fiction book (1994)

  • He found a hundred clams under his couch when he was cleaning.

  • The concert tickets cost two hundred clams, but they were worth every cent.

Synonyms

buck
vsclam
  • Informal
∞ 2.6

A US one dollar bill or coin

is the other informal US slang often used for the same paper unit
dollar
vsclam
589 1.0

A piece of paper money or a coin worth 100 cents

is limited to informal US naming for the paper currency unit
dollar bill
vsclam
  • US
72 1.0

A piece of paper money worth one US dollar

is an informal US slang term for that paper currency unit
one dollar bill
vsclam
  • US
4 1.0

A piece of paper money worth one dollar that you use to pay for things

is specific to informal US usage rather than international naming

Compounds

clam chowder
  • US
8 2.8

A thick, creamy soup with clams, potatoes, and onions, often made with milk

giant clam
  • US
1 5.7

A very large sea clam that lives on coral reefs

razor clam
1 5.4

A long narrow sea clam with a curved, sharp shell

clam dip
  • US
1 5.2

A cold creamy mixture of chopped clams and cream cheese eaten with crackers or chips

freshwater clam
  • US
1 3.3

A small animal with two shells that lives in fresh water, often in rivers

New England clam chowder
  • US
1 3.3

A thick creamy soup from New England made with clams, potatoes, onions, and milk

blood clam
  • Indian
8.0

A shellfish with red blood that lives in muddy seashores and is eaten in parts of Asia

cherrystone clam
  • US
6.3

A medium sized sea animal with a hard shell often eaten cooked or raw

littleneck clam
  • US
4.9

A small edible clam often eaten raw or cooked

long-neck clam
4.4

A type of shellfish with a thin oval shell and a long thin neck eaten as food

Manhattan clam chowder
  • US
3.7

A tomato soup with clams and vegetables served hot

hard-shell clam
  • US
6.1

A North American clam with a thick hard shell that is eaten as food

hard clam
  • US
6.3

A large edible clam from the Atlantic coast whose shell was once used as money by Native Americans

jackknife clam
  • US
9.0

A sea clam with a long narrow shell that lives in sand

round clam
  • US
5.7

A large clam you can eat with a hard rounded shell

soft-shell clam
3.3

A small sea animal with a thin fragile shell that people eat

steamer clam
  • US
4.4

A soft clam often steamed and eaten in its shell

Surface Forms

clam singular
clams plural

Etymology

Clam as slang for 'a dollar' is American and its origin is not certain, but one popular idea is that it comes from shells once used like money. A helpful way to remember it is to think of a small shell as a small coin.