clammy

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   unpleasantly cool and humid

   The salesperson had a clammy handshake.

2. 2
   adj

   Cold and damp, usually referring to hands or palms.

   His hands were clammy from fright.

3. 3
   adj

   The quality of normal skin signs, epidermis that is neither diaphoretic nor dry.

Etymology

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.