Translation Article 677, Idiom “clam up” with its definition, origin, and translations into Spanish and Portuguese, comments.
Michael D. Powers, Ph.D., USCCI
US Certified Court Interpreter 1980 / Ph.D. Spanish Portuguese 1981 / 24 years university professor / Estimates: 12,000+ depositions, hearings, etc. / 850 trials / 3000 documents / Conference Interpreter 650 conferences
Translation Article 677, Idiom “clam up” with its definition, origin, and translations into Spanish and Portuguese, comments.
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1) clam up
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Definition
It means to stop talking, be silent, to shut up.
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Origin
Apparently this idiom comes from observing nature. When a clam senses danger it closes its shell for protection. Likewise, when a human finds himself of herself in a dangerous situation, he or she refuses to talk, goes silent, shut his or her mouth, that is, he she clams up.
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Translation into Spanish
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1) cerrar la boca
[close the mouth]
Shut up, shut one’s mouth, button one’s lip
Comment: Note when we mention the mouth, a body part, the definite article is used in Spanish (“la”) and the possessive adjective is used in English (“one’s”). Another common in English that means the same if “button one’s lip.”
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2) callar
[to shut up]
hush up, keep under one’s hat, (figurative) hold one’s tongue, be quiet, be silent
Comment: Note that there are many ways to get this same concept across in both English and Spanish.
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3) dejar de hablar
[“leave” talking]
stop talking, break off, pipe down, sign off
Comment: When we have a form of the verb of “dejar” followed by the preposition “de” and then a verb, this usually translated to stop Verb ing something, as in this case, stop talking. In the usage of “break off” it implies this stop was sudden. When the idiom “pipe down” is used, often it means to quiet down and not necessarily to stop all talking. “Sign off” probably comes from the age of the Internet since you sign on to something in the Internet and later sign off.
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4) enmudecer
[literally, “to make mute”]
dumbfound, leave speechless
Comment: This verb often implies that the listeners are perplexed.
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5) (familiar) no decir ni pío
[not to say even pious]`
say no word, say absolutely nothing, say nothing, clam up, do not way a word
Comment: A common meaning for “pío” is tweet or chirp, nouns used to describe the sounds made by birds. Imagine no ambient sound, not even the tweeting of birds. That has to be an absolutely silent scenario.
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6) (figurative) cerrarse como aljemar
[close oneself like a clam bed / nursery]
refuse to talk or stop talking
Comment: Just as in example 5 above, this also refers to nature, in this case clams.
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Translations into Portuguese
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1) calar-se
[to keep oneself silent]
keep one’s mouth shout, go silent
Comment: As in other examples, the possessive adjective is used in English whereas the definite article (equivalency of “the”) is used in Portuguese when a body part is used.
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2) fechar-se
[literally, “to close oneself”]
to close, to lock oneself, to hide
Comment: As a mnemonic device, if you close yourself off, then obviously you are going silent or clamming up.
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3) (informal) fechar o bico
[close the beak]
clam up
[Comment: if an animal that has a beak closes it, it is really different to “talk” or “tweet”
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Sources
Oxford Portuguese Dictionary, Oxford University Press, 2015.
English-Portuguese Word Reference app, up through 2025.
Word Magic Complete and Unabridged English Spanish Dictionary 8.8.0 2020 by Word Magic Software Ltda.