clog

 
Pronunciation: /klɒg/

noun

  • 1a shoe with a thick wooden sole.
  • 2an encumbrance or impediment: they found the tax to be an unacceptable clog on the market

verb (clogs, clogging, clogged)

  • block or become blocked with an accumulation of thick, wet matter: [with object]: the gutters were clogged up with leaves [no object]: too much fatty food makes your arteries clog up (as adjective clogged) clogged drains
  • fill up or crowd (something) so as to obstruct passage: tourists' cars clog the roads into Cornwall

Origin:

Middle English (in the sense 'block of wood to impede an animal's movement'): of unknown origin