Source : Wright, Joseph English Dialect Dictionary
web : https://eddonline4-proj.uibk.ac.at/edd/main.html

CLAY, sb.1 and v.1 Var. dial. uses in Sc. Irel. and Eng.
1. sb. In comb. (1) Clay-biggin(g, a small hut or
cottar's house made of clay and wood; (2) Clay-bug, a
common clay marble; (3) Clay-cat, a large roundish stone
found in clay; (4) Clay-cold, quite cold, lifeless; (5) Clay-dabber Dick,
a contemptuous term applied to a maker of bricks
by hand; (6) Clay-daubin, (a) see Clay-biggin(g; (b) the custom
of a gathering of the neighbours to assist in building
such a dwelling for a newly married couple; (7)
Clay-daubs, home-made clay marbles; (8) Clay-dolly, a woman
worker in a brickfield, who carries the brick from
the moulder's table to the open field where it is
to be dried; (9) Clay dues, the dues, varying from 3s. to
3s. 6d. per ton on clay sent or sold out of the clay works,
paid to the landowner; (10) Clay hallan, a thin partition
wall in a cottage; (11) Clay maidens, girls employed in
china-clay works, gen. as ‘scrapers’; (12) Clay-lane, an unstoned
parish road; (13) Clay-lump, bricks of sun-dried clay;
(14) Clay marl, a variety of marl, formerly much used as
a fertilizer; (15) Clay-pans, shallow places, about 18 ins. deep
and from 50 to 80 ft. square, used to filter off and
evaporate the water from clay; (16) Clay-pea, a variety of field
pea; (17) Clay-pit, a water-tight pit, about 8 ft. deep and
from 40 to 80 ft. square, in which china-clay, held suspended
in water, is allowed to deposit, the clear water
running away; (18) Clay-rag, a composite stone found in clay-pits;
(19) Clay-salve, common cerate; (20) Clay-sett, a portion of
land containing a bed of clay, marked out for raising,
washing, or preparing china or porcelain clay; (21)
Clay-stone, a blue and white limestone, dug out of the subsoil;
(22) Clay-stopes, the place or ‘pit’ where the clay is dug
up and ‘washed,’ so as to separate the sand and mica
from the pure porcelain or china clay; (23) Clay-tail, a dirty
girl, a ‘draggle-tail.’
(1) Ayr. The spewing reek That fill'd, wi' hoast-provoking smeek,
The auld clay biggin, Burns The Vision, st. 3. Gall. It...
resembled the inside of a very small claybigging, or ordinary cottar's
house, Crockett Raiders (1894) xliii. Cum.1 Lan. Many of these
‘clay biggins’ still remain in the Fylde district, Harland &
Wilkinson Flk-Lore (1867) 263. (2) N.I.1 (3) Dor. Barnes Gl.
(1863). (4) Ayr. Till clay-cauld death shall blin my 'ee, Burns
Hark! the Mavis. Shr.1 W'eerever han'ee 'ad this child? it's fit
an' 'an's bin clay-cold ─ it's welly starved to djeth. The body wuz
clay-cold w'en it wuz fund. Glo. It's perfectly clay-cold (S.S.B.).
Dor. She'd never seen a clay-cold man, Hardy Ethelberta (1876)
I. i. (5) s.Stf. Pinnock Blk. Cy. Ann. (1895). War.2 Clay-dabber
Dick, Three fardens a-wik, Three little devils To carry one brick,
Flk-rhyme. (6, a) Cum. (J.Ar.); Practised in the low and level
parts of the county, of which there is no tradition in the higher
red sand-stone district, where stone is abundant and many houses
very old (M.P.); Cum.1 (b) Lakel. It was necessary for the proper
consolidation of the fabric that the whole of it should be built in
one day. Hence there was a very general gathering of the neighbours
to assist in such erections (often for a new married couple),
and after the edifice was completed the day was concluded with
festivities, including music and dancing, Ellwood (1895). Cum.
Brockett Gl.; We went owre to Deavie' Clay Daubin.... The
waws wer aw finish'd er darknin, Anderson Ballads (1808) Clay
Daubin; Gl. (1851). (7) Cum.1 (8) Nhb.1 (9) Cor.2 (10) s.Sc.
She was separated from him only by a thin partition or clay hallan,
Wilson Tales (1839) V. 54. (11) Cor.2 (12) n.Lin.1 When a lane
of this kind has grass on its sides it is called a green lane; when
its surface is strong clay, and there is little or no grass at the sides,
it is called a clay-lane. (13) e.An.1 (14) Chs.1 Its characteristics
are that it should be ‘of a dark brown colour, intersected with
veins of either a blue, or light yellow shade; it should be greasy
to the touch, when moist; and friable when dry,’ Holland Gen.
View Agric. (1808) 221. (15) Cor.2 The floors being covered with
sand, the semi-fluid clay from the ‘claypit’ is poured or pumped
into them, so as to filter off and evaporate the water, until the clay
is firm enough to be cut out in square blocks, to be further dried
in the sun. The process is now generally superseded by the ‘dry.’
(16) Som. The Burbage-grey or popling-pea is much sowed in the
deep lands of Somersetshire, and there called the clay-pea, Lisle
Husbandry (1757). (17) Cor.2 (18) Glo.2 (19) e.An.1 [So called]
from its colour. (20) Cor.2 (21) Glo. Marshall Rur. Econ. (1789)
I; Grose (1790); Glo.1 (22) Cor.2 (23) n.Lin.1
2. pl. Strong clay land.
n.Lin.1 It's dryish here, but it's weet up o' th' claays yit.
3. A pitman's candlestick, made of a piece of clay. Nhb.1
4. pl. Boys' marbles made of brown clay. Also in form
clayers. Cor.2
5. The body, flesh.
Fif. The stany saints whilk they Had worship't on a former day
Whan tabernaclin' i' their clay, Tennant Papistry (1827) 8. Ayr.
Tam Samson's weel-worn clay here lies, Burns Tam Samson's
Elegy (1787) Epitaph. Edb. Wha at fourscore did sap her clay
Wi'-cogs o' brose, McDowall Poems (1839) 118. Nhb. Aw toil
maw byens, till through maw clay They peep, Wilson Pitman's
Pay (1843) 9; When sleep o'ercomes maw weary clay, WILSON Pitman's Pay 13;
Nhb.1
6. In phr. (1) to lay down the clay, to die; (2) to wet or
moisten the clay, to drink; (3) with the face of clay, before
or better than any living man.
(1) Abd. I'll soon lay doon the clay, yet ere I go away I'd like
to see the brig across to Torry, Ogg Willie Waly (1873) 206. (2)
Nhb. Aw'm very dry this morn, Aw want te wet me clay, Wilson
Tyneside Sngs. (1890) 404; A grand blaw oot wi' Grundy's yell,
A real moistenin' o' the clay, Wilson Pitman's Pay (1843) 56;
Nhb.1 (3) Edb. I'll make a pair of breeches with the face of clay,
Moir Mansie Wauch (1828) ix.
7. v. To put clay upon the land. n.Lin.1
Hence (1) Clayed-up, adj. surrounded with mud, clay,
&c.; (2) Claying, vbl. sb. marling, dressing soil with clay
or marl.
(1) Lin. Stood By the claäy'd-oop pond, that the foälk be sa
scared at, Tennyson Spinster's Sweet-arts (1885) st. 6. (2) Nrf.
Young Annals Agric. (1784-1815).
8. To stop a hole or chink with clay or any unctuous or
viscous substance. Cf. clem.
Sc. Clay the clungest, Ferguson Poems (1789) II. 61 (Jam.).
Ayr. (J.F.), Gall. (A.W.)

CLAY, sb.2 and v.2 Dev.
1. sb. A shiver, tremor.
Dev.1 I don't know how et was, zimeth I'd always a tremor or
a clay upon me, 59.
2. v. To shiver. Dev. (Hall.)

CLAY, see Clee.

CLAY, sb.1 and v.1 Sc. Cum. Yks. Lan. Lin. 1. sb.
In comp. (1) Clay-flop, see below; (2) Clay-lane, (a) an unstoned
parish road; (2) (b) in phr. to go down the clay-lane,
see below; (3) Clay-pottie, a home-made clay marble; (4)
Clay-stick, a kind of clay used to ornament flagstone, &c.
(1) s.Lan.1 A lump of moist clay tied to a string and used by
boys to get money, etc., up a grating; a piece of moist clay, worked
up between the hands, and then thrown down so as to make
a noisy report. (2, a) n.Yks. (I.W.) (b) n.Lin. A tradesman
who had anticipated a great misfortune which had been suddenly
removed, said to me this morning with great glee,‘ We sha'nt hev
to go doon th' clay-lane noo’ (E.P.). (3) Cum.4 (4) A softer
material is also used, and is made of plaster of Paris and whiting,
coloured with Venetian red; this is made into lumps, or rolls about
the size of an ordinary sausage, and sometimes called claysticks, Cum.4
2. v. With up: to bring up.
Gall. Eyes are said to be clayed up when boxing has blinded
them, Mactaggart Encycl. (1824).