clinker

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a hard, stony lump of fused ash left after coal or other fuel has burned

   Grey clinker broke away from the heat-scorched surface in brittle flakes.

2. 2
   noun

   hard nodules produced by heating limestone and clay, later ground to make cement

   The rotating kiln turns the raw mixture into cement clinker.

3. 3
   noun

   an unusually hard, partly vitrified brick

   Dark clinker bricks gave the old factory wall an irregular texture.

4. 4
   verb

   to form clinker while burning, or to remove clinker from a furnace

   Poor airflow caused the coal to clinker inside the furnace.

Borrowed from Dutch clinker or klinker, from klinken, 'to ring.' The name probably refers to the ringing sound of a hard, well-fired brick or fused lump when struck; industrial uses later spread to furnace residue and cement nodules.

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