Etymology: < French glaire, found in 13th cent. The forms in the other Romance languages (Provençal glara, clara, Italian chiara, Spanish clara) indicate Latin clāra, feminine of clārus bright, clear, as the source of the French word.
1. The white of an egg; freq. in full the glair of an egg, of eggs . Also, a technical term for preparations made from the whites of eggs and used in various trade-processes, esp. book-binding.
2. transf. Any similar viscid or slimy substance. (OED)
"So I put it in my mouth and taste
Two dank gobbets–salty, glairy, and grayish–
I should have recognized as the waste
That was my old self,
A loofah having scraped it from each crevice
And bulge, from every salacious thought and deed."
- J. D. McClatchy, "Cağaloğlu", 15 & 22 August 2011 The New Yorker
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