clad
part of speech
adjective (clad); verb form (clad as an old past form of clothe; clad, clads, cladding — to cover a building)
meaning for a pupil
1) (formal or literary) Wearing a certain kind of clothes («clad in armour», «a black-clad figure»). tree →
2) Covered with a layer of some material («stone-clad», «ivy-clad»). tree →
3) (building, verb) To cover a building's walls with a layer of material; the layer is called «cladding». tree →
sense in the lessons
In stories and poems it describes how people are dressed — «a knight clad in steel». In building and the news it describes walls covered with panels; the Grenfell Tower fire in London in 2017 led to rules about safe cladding. It tells the reader what someone or something is wrapped in. Often with «in»: «clad in».
examples
- The knight was clad in shining armour. tree →
- A figure clad in black stood at the gate. tree →
- The hills were clad in snow. tree →
- The house was clad in red brick. tree →
- Ivy-clad walls surrounded the old garden. tree →
- Workers are replacing unsafe cladding on the tower. tree →
- The children came clad in wellies and raincoats. tree →
- He was a plump young fellow, clad in summer garments and wearing a straw hat. tree →
note
Mostly used as an adjective after a noun or in compounds (snow-clad, steel-clad). It sounds old-fashioned or literary in the sense «dressed»; everyday English says «dressed in». «Cladding» is the noun for the covering on a building.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «clad» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.