have feet of clay Definition

clay
noun

1. geol.
A poorly draining soil consisting mainly of aluminium silicates, which is pliable when wet and is used to make pottery, bricks, ceramics, etc.
2. Earth or soil generally.
3. A prepared hard surface of a tennis court.
4. poetic
The substance of which the human body is formed.

Idiom: have feet of clay

Said of a person of great merit: to have a weakness which was previously undiscovered.

Derivative: clayey
adj

Etymology: Anglo-Saxon clæg.