close as a clam
Preserved but no longer current.
Meaning · English
Mean, close-fisted; from the difficulty with which a clam is made to open its shell and give up all it has worth having.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “close as a clam” mean?
Mean, close-fisted; from the difficulty with which a clam is made to open its shell and give up all it has worth having.
Is “close as a clam” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.