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Webster's Dictionary (1865)

2 entries under this word

Clout

Clout, n.

noun

n. [A-S. clāt, a little cloth, Sw. klut.] 1. A piece of cloth, leather, &c., used to fill up or cover a hole, or for any other purpose; a patch. His garments, nought but many ragged clouts. With thorns together pinned and patched was. Spenser. A clout upon that head where late the diadem stood. Shak. 2. The center of the butt at which archers shoot, said to have been originally a piece of white cloth. He must shoot nearer or he'll ne'er hit the clout. Shak. ☞ Nares supposes this use of the term to be derived from a small nail (Fr. clouet) fixed in the center of the butt.

  1. An iron plate on an axletree to guard it from wearing.
  2. [O. Fr. clouet, diminutive of clou; Fr. clou, from Lat. clavus, nail.] A small nail.
  3. A blow with the hand. [Low.]

Clout, v. t.

verbtransitive

v. t. [imp. & p. p. CLOUTED; p. pr. & vb. n. CLOUTING.] [A-S. clātian, from clāt. See supra.] 1. To cover with cloth, leather, or other material; to patch; to mend. They . . . took old sacks upon their asses, and wine-bottles, old and rent, and bound up, and old shoes, and clouted upon their feet. Josh. ix. 5. Paul, yea, and Peter too, had more skill in . . . clouting an old tent than to teach lawyers what diligence they should use in the expedition of matters. Latimer. 2. To join or patch together in a clumsy manner. If fond Bairns vent his clouted song. P. Fletcher.

  1. To arm or guard with an iron plate, as an axletree.
  2. To give a blow to; to strike; to wound. [Low.]

The . . . queen of Spain took off one of her chopines and clouted Olivarez about the noddle with it. Howell. Clouted cream, clotted cream, i. e., cream obtained by warming new milk. The expressions “clouted brogues” in Shakespeare and “clouted shoon” in Milton have been understood by Mason, Nares, and others to mean shoes armed with nails. Nares quotes the following passage from Shakespeare in support of this view:— I thought he slept, and put My clouted brogues from off my feet, whose rudeness Answered my steps too loud.