[Fr. cloche bell, bell-glass, etc.] A special kind of bell-glass used by gardeners for rearing young or delicate plants under.
1882. The Garden, 27 May, 371/3. We have some thousands of cuttings … coming on under cloches just now.
1889. Corresp. at Kew says—‘Cloche is in common use in the market gardens about here for the glasses under which spring vegetables are raised.’
Cloche, obs. form of CLUTCH.
