Also 5–7 clogge, (5 cloge), 7 clogg. [Known since 14th c.; derivation obscure.
(Connection with CLAG ‘to clot with any thing sticky’ appears only in later transferred uses.)]
1. A thick piece of wood; a short piece of the trunk, or of a large root, of a tree; a block, clump. Still the ordinary sense in Scotland. Yule clog: a Christmas log for the fire.
c. 1400. Sowdone Bab., 2919. With a Clog of an Oke he faught.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 83. Clogge, truncus.
1530. Palsgr., 206/1. Clogge, billot.
1570. Levins, Manip., 157. A clog, log, truncus.
n. d. Descr. Scotland (Jam.), Great clogges of timber.
1834. Mrs. Bray, Warleigh, II. ii. 52. Well roasted by the ‘yule clog’ of a Christmas fire.
1886. Stewart, Remin. Dumfermline, 61. The roots of large trees called ‘clogs’ were now brought.
2. A block or heavy piece of wood, or the like, attached to the leg or neck of a man or beast, to impede motion or prevent escape.
1450. Pol. Poems (1859), II. 232. Jac Napes wolde one the see a maryner to ben, With his cloge and his cheyn.
c. 1450. Bk. Curtasye, in Babees Bk. (1868), 302. Þou art lyke an ape teyȝed with a clogge.
1461. Past. Lett., No. 414, II. 48. I am with the gayler, with a clogge upon myn hele.
1570. Levins, Manip., 157. A clogge at ye foote, impedimentum.
1599. Shaks., Much Ado, I. iii. 35. I am trusted with a mussell, and enfranchisde with a clog.
1629. J. Cole, Of Death, 45. The body is but to the soule as a clogge tied to the legge.
1669. Worlidge, Syst. Agric. (1681), 323. Clogs, pieces of Wood, or such like, fastned about the Necks, or to the Legs of Beasts, that they run not away.
1830. Lamb, in Blackw. Mag., XXVII. 101. I never tied tin-kettle, clog, Or salt-box to the tail of dog, Without a pang.
b. A load to obstruct the motion of anything.
1669. Boyle, Contn. New Exp., I. (1682), 23. We perceived the Bladder to swell and concluded that it had lifted up its clog about an inch. Ibid., 112. The Clog, when all the Air was come in, was swiftly raised.
c. A block or lump tied to anything for use or ornament; e.g., to a key to prevent its being lost.
c. 1325. Pol. Songs (1839), 154. For the clogges that cleveth by here chelle.
c. 1400. Sowdone Bab., 1603. With the Keye cloge, þat she caught.
1562. J. Heywood, Prov. & Epigr. (1867), 164. Euery key hath a clog.
3. fig. Anything that impedes action or progress; an impediment, encumbrance, hindrance.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 28. As burthens or clogges retaryenge or lettynge them in theyr iourney.
1577. trans. Bullinger’s Decades (1592), 227. A grieuous clog to her husband.
1681. Dryden, Abs. & Achit., 615. That Kings were Useless, and a Clog to Trade.
1727. Swift, Gulliver, III. viii. 231. A perpetual clog to public business.
1814. Southey, Roderick, IV. Like a spirit which hath shaken off The clog of dull mortality.
1885. Manch. Exam., 6 April, 4/7. Women and children are a clog upon rapid movements.
† 4. The ‘cone’ of the fir or pine tree. Obs.
1577. B. Googe, Heresbach’s Husb., II. (1586), 104. The Pine tree … the kernelles must be gathered in June, before the clogges do open.
1669. Worlidge, Syst. Agric. (1681), 324. Coniferous Trees, are such that bear Cones or Clogs.
1727. Bradley, Fam. Dict., s.v. Fir tree, The Kernels and Nuts, which may be got out of their Cones and Clogs.
† 5. A tuber at the root of a plant. Obs.
1597. Gerarde, Herbal, I. lxvi. § 1. 91. The roote consisteth of many knobs or tuberous clogs.
1657. W. Coles, Adam in Eden, lxviii. 128. The Roots [of orpine] are divers thick, round, white, tuberous Clogs.
1688. R. Holme, Armoury, II. 115/1. Clogs, or knotty roots … hanging together by threds.
6. a. A wooden-soled overshoe or sandal worn (chiefly by women) in some localities, to protect the feet from wet and dirt. b. A shoe with a thick wooden sole protected by a rim of metal, worn in the north. [Probably the name belongs originally to the thick wooden sole alone: cf. CLOG v. 9.]
1416. Act 4 Hen. V., c. 3 § 1. Qe les Patynmakers … ne facent ascuns patyns ne clogges del maeresme appelle Aspe.
1671. trans. Palafox’s Conq. China, xxxii. 582. Chopino’s are high Cloggs, which the Women use in Spain.
1688. R. Holme, Armoury, III. 14/2. Cloggs are shooes with thick Wooden Soles.
1742. H. Walpole, Corr. (ed. 3), I. xxxvi. 146. I remember at the playhouse, they used to call on Mrs. Oldfield’s chair! Mrs. Barry’s clogs! and Mrs. Bracegirdle’s pattens!
1798. Jane Austen, Northang. Abb., ii. A fear on Mrs. Allen’s part of having left her clogs at an inn.
1820. Ann. Reg., 312. (Manchester Sessions) They kicked me with their clogs.
1843. Thackeray, Men’s Wives (1872), 478. He leaves his clogs in the passage … in the muddiest weather he never has a speck on his foot.
1850. E. Elliot, More Verse & Pr., I. 67. To clomp in my clogs there, I is not inclin’d.
1877. N. W. Lincolnsh. Gloss., Clog (4) A wooden-soled overshoe worn by women.
1883. Almondbury & Huddersfield Gloss. (E. D. S.), Clogs, shoes with wooden soles … they are particularly useful in the factories where dyeing is going on.
† 7. A kind of calendar notched upon a square block of wood (or other material). Obs.
1679. Plot, Staffordsh. (1686), 418. An ancient sort of Almanacks they call Cloggs, made upon square sticks, still in use here amongst the meaner sort of people.
a. 1765. Stukeley, Itin., VI. 131. St. Martin’s day, in the Norway clogs, is marked with a goose.
1834–43. Southey, Doctor, xc. 202. In Peter Hopkins’s time the clogg was still found in farm houses.
8. Comb., as clog-like adj. and adv., -maker, -wearing ppl. a.; clog-almanac, = CLOG 7; clog-boot, a wooden-soled boot; clog-dance, a dance performed in clogs or wooden-soled shoes; hence clog-dancer; † clog-head, ? a blockhead; clog-hornpipe (cf. clog-dance); clog-weed (see quot.); clog-wheat, a bearded variety of wheat; also called, from the conical form of its spike, cone-wheat; † clog-wheel, a cart-wheel in one block (see quot.).
1681. Lond. Gaz., No. 1592/4. A short pair of *Clog-Boots.
1881. Daily Tel., 27 Dec., 2/6. A grand international *clog-dance.
1598. Famous Victories Hen. V., x. 25. Come ye *cloghead.
1861. Mrs. Norton, Lady La G., IV. 197. The slandered … Who hears for evermore the self-same lie Clank *clog-like at his heels.
1723. Lond. Gaz., No. 6170/8. John Willson … *Clog-maker.
1807. Vancouver, Agric. Devon (1813), 251. Purchased by the clog-makers and turners.
1850. E. Elliott, More Verse and Pr., I. 67. *Clog-wearing Madge.
1878–86. Britten & H., Eng. Plant-n., *Clog-weed, (1) Heracleum Sphondylium, Glou. (2) Scabiosa arvensis, S. Bucks.
1879. Jefferies, Wild Life in S. Co., 165. A deep broad ditch overshadowed by tall hemlock and clogweed.
1762. Bones, in Phil. Trans., LII. 530. *Clog wheat, or rivets, or bearded-wheat, (as it is variously called in this county [Suffolk]).
1863. Morton, Cycl. Agric., Gloss., Clog-wheat, cone-wheat.
1575. Richmond. Wills (1853), 254. Ij paire *clogs wheeles for oxen.
1878. Cumbrld. Gloss., Clog wheels, cart wheels of thick plank and without spokes. In common use in the 18th century.
