/klaʊt/, /klaʊt/, [klʌʊt]
OriginFrom Middle English clout (“piece of cloth”), from Old English clūt (“piece of cloth, patch; metal plate”), from Proto-West Germanic *klūt, from Proto-Germanic *klūtaz, from Proto-Indo-European *gelewdos, from Proto-Indo-European *gel- (“to ball up, amass”). The influence sense originated in the dialect of Chicago, but has become widespread.
Cognate with Old Norse klútr (“kerchief”), Swedish klut, Danish klud, Middle High German klōz (“lump”), whence German Kloß (“clump”), and dialectal Russian глуда (gluda). See also cleat.
- countable, informal, uncountableInfluence or effectiveness, especially political.
“Having relinquished his clout in City Council to run for a place on the county board, and having lost stature by reason of his failure to win the presidency, Duffy was in no position to seek the party”
“[…]ethics officers themselves often complain that they can recommend but have little clout with which to create real change.”
“The chopped mushrooms add depth to both the Waitrose and the Go-Go Vegan recipe, but what gives the latter some real clout on the flavour front is a teaspoon of Marmite.”
- countable, uncountableA blow with the hand.
“‘Such a clout on the ear as you gave me… But I soon taught you.’”
“One of her goons gave him a clout on the ear.”
- countable, informal, uncountableA home run.
“'... allowed Boston to score all of its runs on homers, including a pair of clouts by Jacoby Ellsbury ...'”
- countable, uncountableThe center of the butt at which archers shoot; probably once a piece of white cloth or a nail head.
“For kings are clouts that euery man ſhoots at,
Our Crowne the pin that thouſands ſeeke to cleaue.”
“A’ must shoot nearer or he’ll ne’er hit the clout.”
- countable, dated, regional, uncountableA swaddling cloth.
“When a new-hatched savage running wild about his native woodlands in a grass clout, followed by the nibbling goats, as if he were a green sapling; even then, in Queequeg’s ambitious soul, lurked a str”
- archaic, countable, uncountableA cloth; a piece of cloth or leather; a patch; a rag.
“His garment nought but many ragged clouts, / With thornes together pind and patched was, / The which his naked sides he wrapt abouts;”
“If I were mad, I ſhould forget my ſonne, / or madly thinke a babe of clowts were he; I am not mad: too well, too well I feele / The different plague of each clamitie.”
“[…] a clout upon that head
Where late the diadem stood […]”
- archaic, countable, uncountableAn iron plate on an axletree or other wood to keep it from wearing; a washer.
“Clouts were thin and flat pieces of iron, used it appears to strengthen the box of the wheel; perhaps also for nailing on such other parts of the cart as were particularly exposed to wear.”
- countable, uncountableA clout nail.
- countable, obsolete, uncountableA piece; a fragment.
- transitiveTo hit (someone or something), especially with the fist.
“The wolde ſome mayſter perhappes clowt ye / But as for me ye nede nat doute ye / For I had leuer be without ye / Then haue ſuche beſyneſſe aboute ye.”
“A wizard? Him? How could he possibly be? He'd spent his life being clouted by Dudley, and bullied by Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon; if he was really a wizard, why hadn't they been turned into warty to”
- transitiveTo cover with cloth, leather, or other material; to bandage, patch, or mend with a clout.
“Paul, yea, and Peter, too, had more skill in mending an old net, and in clouting an old tent than to teach lawyers what diligence they should use in the expedition of matters.”
- transitiveTo stud with nails, as a timber, or a boot sole.
- transitiveTo guard with an iron plate, as an axletree.
- transitiveTo join or patch clumsily.
“if fond Bavius vent his clouted song”
- alt-of, dated, transitiveDated form of clot.
“He tells us how to butter eggs, boil eels, clout cream, stew capons, how to make a fine cake, an almond pudding and a raspberry conserve, […]”
Formsclouts(plural) · clouts(present, singular, third-person) · clouting(participle, present) · clouted(participle, past) · clouted(past)