clad

Everyday

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 →

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.

In Jewish tradition

An old form of "clothed," meaning dressed in something.

Interpretation. God is pictured as clad in righteousness and salvation like a warrior. Tradition reads this as showing that God's saving acts come from justice and zeal.

Examples

• And Saul clad David with his apparel, and he put a helmet of brass upon his head, and he clad him with a coat of mail. (Prophets 1SA.17.38, JPS 1917) tree →
• And he had a helmet of brass upon his head, and he was clad with a coat of mail; and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of brass. (Prophets 1SA.17.5, JPS 1917) tree →
• And He put on righteousness as a coat of mail, and a helmet of salvation upon His head, and He put on garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloak. (Prophets ISA.59.17, JPS 1917) 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.