cloy

[ kloi ]
See synonyms for cloy on Thesaurus.com
verb (used with object)
  1. to weary by an excess of food, sweetness, pleasure, etc.; surfeit; satiate.

verb (used without object)
  1. to become uninteresting or distasteful through overabundance: A diet of cake and candy soon cloys.

Origin of cloy

1
1350–1400; aphetic variant of Middle English acloyen<Middle French enclo(y)er<Late Latin inclāvāre to nail in, equivalent to in-in-2 + -clāvāre, verbal derivative of clāvus nail

Other words for cloy

Other words from cloy

  • o·ver·cloy, verb (used with object)
  • un·cloyed, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use cloy in a sentence

  • This is a great country, but the very air you breathe is cloyed with your national utilitarianism.

    The Great Prince Shan | E. Phillips Oppenheim

British Dictionary definitions for cloy

cloy

/ (klɔɪ) /


verb
  1. to make weary or cause weariness through an excess of something initially pleasurable or sweet

Origin of cloy

1
C14 (originally: to nail, hence, to obstruct): from earlier acloyen, from Old French encloer, from Medieval Latin inclavāre, from Latin clāvāre to nail, from clāvus a nail

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012