Definition: (1) To oversatiate with rich food, to overfeed, to cause nausea by overfeeding with delicious, rich food; (2) to oversatiate with anything otherwise pleasant to point it becomes unpleasant.

Usage: We meet today's word often as "a cloying odor" in our reading, indicating an odor that is slightly nauseous. "Jade" is another verb indicating displeasure at a surfeit, but this verb suggests boredom (not nausea) from repetition of a trivial task. The adjective is "cloying" and the adverb, "cloyingly."

Suggested Usage: Begin by using today's word to refer to that discomfort brought on by overeating, "Mother dear, the meal was delicious but please do not cloy me with yet another serving." Then move on to metaphorical flights like, "Alicia, you cannot cloy me with your presence; can I see you again tomorrow?" Do not forget the implication of nausea associated with this word, "The speech of our 22-million-dollar-a-year president was cloyed with insincere references to the work force and its importance to the company."

Etymology: This word is a reduction of accloy "to clog" from Middle English "acloien," which derives from Old French encloer "to drive a nail into." In the Middle Ages cannon and other armaments were rendered useless by driving a nail into their touchhole (which led to the powder) and clogging it. This sense led to that of being overfed, satiated—'clogged,' so to speak, with food. The Old French word "encloer" devolved from the Latin "inclavare," made up of in "in" + clavare "to nail," a verb based on clavus "a nail," a close relative of clavis "key." This Latin word also gave us "clove," the anesthetizing spice that looks like a small spike. The same root emerged in Russian as klyuch' "key" while in German it picked up an initial [s] to become Schlüssel "key" and Schloss "castle."