Clout v.

Now arch. or dial. Forms: 3 clutie, (4 clouȝt, ? pa. pple. clutte), 5 clute, (clowght), 4–6 cloute, 4–7 clowt(e, (6 clought), 5– clout. [f. CLOUT sb.¹ [f. CLOUT sb.¹ The pa. pple. ʓeclútod occurred in OE.; NFris. has klütjan, to patch.]

  I.  1. trans. To mend with a clout or patch; to patch (with cloth, leather, metal, etc.).

c. 1350.  Will. Palerne, 14. Þe herd sat … Clouȝtand kyndely his schon.

c. 1450.  Merlin, ii. 33. A carl … hadde bought a payre of stronge shone, and also stronge lether to clowte hem with.

1499.  Promp. Parv., 84 (Pynson). Clout disshes, pottes, pannes, crusco.

1539.  Taverner, Erasm. Prov. (1552), 33 b. Let the cobler medle with clowtynge his neyghbours shoes.

c. 1645.  Howell, Lett. (1688), III. 405. The Cobler will Clout it till Midnight … to give his Son Learning.

1724.  Ramsay, Tea-t. Misc. (1733), I. 104. I’m come to clout her caldron.

1840.  Carlyle, Heroes, ii. (1858), 238. Visibly clouting his own cloak, cobbling his own shoes.

  b.  fig.

1413.  Lydg., Pilgr. Sowle, II. xliii. (1859), 49. They peruertyn holy Scripture by fals vnderstandynge … kouerynge … and cloutynge … the lawe of Crystes gospel.

1543.  Bale, Yet a Course at the Romyshe Foxe, 98 b (L.). He clowteth the old broken holes with patches of olde papystrye, sowynge them togyther with newe subtiltees and wyles.

1865.  Carlyle, Fredk. Gt., I. III. xvi. 240. Peace of Prag … Miserable Peace; bit of Chaos clouted up, and done over with Official varnish.

  † 2.  To put in, on, or to by way of a patch; usually fig. Obs. Also absol. To add patches.

a. 1225.  Ancr. R., 256. Þet heo ne … clutie nanmore þerto.

c. 1380.  Wyclif, Sel. Wks., III. 404. Or ellis [mot we] uncraftily cloute to wordes of Crist.

1481.  in Eng. Gilds, 320. A brasen krocke … a pache clowted in the brim w^t laten.

1576.  Gascoigne, Compl. Philomene (Arb.), 119. I haue clouted a new patch to an olde sole.

1581.  J. Bell, Haddon’s Answ. Osor., 109. Unlesse some Phebus have clouted upon this Mydas head … the eares of some lolleared Asse.

  3.  To arm or protect with an iron plate or clout. b. Also, to protect the soles of shoes with broad-headed nails, to stud with clout-nails.

c. 1394.  P. Pl. Crede, 424. Wiþ his knopped schon clouted full þykke.

1502.  Priv. Purse Exp. Eliz. of York (1830), 61. Item for cloughting the same shoys iij d.

1573.  Tusser, Husb. (1878), 36. Strong exeltred cart, that is clouted and shod.

1636.  Healey, Theophrast. Rusticitie, 18. This fellow … clowts his shooes with hob-nayles.

1649.  Blithe, Eng. Improv. Impr. (1652), 207. Either not clouting at all, or else uneven rough clouting and plating your ploughs.

1675.  Cotton, Poet. Wks. (1765), 233. [He] Bushes the Naves, clouts th’ Axle-trees.

1688.  R. Holme, Armoury, II. 300/1. Sparrow Bills … Nails to Clout Shooes withal.

  fig.  1628.  Earle, Microcosm., Pl. Country Fellow (Arb.), 50. Some thriftie Hobnayle Prouerbes to Clout his discourse.

  † 4.  fig. ‘To join awkwardly or coarsely together’ (J.); to patch clumsily or botch up. Obs.

c. 1380.  Wyclif, Serm., Sel. Wks. I. 4. Anticristis lawe, cloutid of many is full of errors.

1563–87.  Foxe, A. & M. (1684), I. 16/2. This argument … being clouted up in the third figure.

1602.  Warner, Alb. Eng., IX. xlviii. (1612), 223. So, by what right or wrong so-eare, Spaine clouteth Crownes together.

  5.  To cover with a clout or cloth; also transf. to cover as with a cloth. arch.

1579.  [see CLOUTED ppl. a.¹ 4].

1641.  Best, Farm. Bks. (1856), 2. A custome with many sheep-men to clowte their shearinges to hinder them from tuppinge.

1709.  Steele & Swift, Tatler, No. 68, ¶ 4. He … showed a Leg clouted up.

1851.  Mayne Reid, Scalp Hunt., xxix. The white flakes had clouted his [the horse’s] throat.

  † 6.  ? To wipe with a cloth. Obs.

1553.  Bale, Gardiner’s Obed., G j.

a. 1792.  Sir J. Reynolds, Journ. Flanders, etc. Wks. II. 383.

  II.  7. To cuff heavily. Now dial. or vulgar.

c. 1314.  Guy Warw. (A.), 3709. So he gan his godes to cloute, Þat þe erþe dined aboute.

c. 1410[?].  Sir Cleges, 264. I schall the clowght.

1551.  Bible, 2 Sam. xxii. 39 (R.). I wasted them and so clouted them that they coulde not aryse.

c. 1645.  Howell, Lett. (1655), II. xliv. The late Queen of Spain took off one of her chapines, and clowted Olivarez about the noddle with it.

c. 1665.  Mrs. Hutchinson, Mem. Col. Hutchinson (1846), 273. Let us clout them out of the field.

1784.  New Spectator, XX. 4/2. Quarrelling and offering to ‘clout’ any body that opposed their opinion.

1869.  Blackmore, Lorna D., xi. (ed. 12), 61. I longed to clout his ears for him.

  8.  To reap in a particular way; = BAG v.²

1886.  Encycl. Brit. (ed. 9), XXI. 574/2. A heavy smooth-edged sickle is used for ‘bagging’ or ‘clouting,’—an operation in which the hook is struck against the straw, the left hand being used to gather and carry along the cut swath.