clout

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English

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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From Middle English clout, from Old English clūt, from Proto-Germanic *klūtaz, from Proto-Indo-European *gelewdos, from Proto-Indo-European *gel- (“to ball up, amass”). The sense “influence, especially political” originated in the dialect of Chicago, but has become widespread.

cognates and related terms

Cognate with Old Norse klútr (“kerchief”),[1] Swedish klut, Danish klud, Middle High German klōz (“lump”), whence German Kloß, and dialect Russian глуда (gluda).[2] See also cleat.

Noun

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clout (countable and uncountable, plural clouts)

  1. (informal) Influence or effectiveness, especially political.
    • 1975, Len O'Connor, Clout--Mayor Daley and His City‎[1], page 74:
      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 chairmanship for himself
    • 1986, Tony Alessandra, The New Art of Managing People‎[2], page 76:
      […] ethics officers themselves often complain that they can recommend but have little clout with which to create real change.
    • 2011 December 15, Felicity Cloake, “How to cook the perfect nut roast”, in Guardian‎[3]:
      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.
    • 2017, Kimetrius Foose (Lil Skies), Myron Goedhart (lyrics and music), “Fake”, performed by Lil Skies:
      It's funny how they judge you when they see you made a change / I poured another four just to take away the pain / My friends weren't my friends, they was [sic] looking for some clout / I had what they wanted so they always came around
    • 2019 November 29, Taylor Lorenz, “Here’s What’s Happening in the American Teenage Bedroom”, in New York Times‎[4]:
      Rowan, like most teenagers on the internet, wasn’t after fame or money, though he made a decent amount — at one point $10,000 a month and more, he said. What Rowan wanted was clout. On the internet, clout is a social currency that can be used to obtain just about anything. Rack up enough while you’re young, and doors everywhere begin to open.
  2. (regional, informal) A blow with the hand.
    • 1910, Katherine Mansfield, Frau Brenchenmacher Attends A Wedding:
      ‘Such a clout on the ear as you gave me… But I soon taught you.’
    • 1985, Brian Daley, Jinx on a Terran Inheritance‎[5], page 338:
      One of her goons gave him a clout on the ear.
  3. (baseball, informal) A home run.
    • 2011 August 17, Michael Vega, “Triple double”, in The Boston Globe, page C1:
      '... allowed Boston to score all of its runs on homers, including a pair of clouts by Jacoby Ellsbury ...'
  4. (archery) The center of the butt at which archers shoot; probably once a piece of white cloth or a nail head.
  5. (regional, dated) A swaddling cloth.
    • 1851, Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chapter 12:
      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 strong desire to see something more of Christendom than a specimen whaler or two.
  6. (archaic) A cloth; a piece of cloth or leather; a patch; a rag.
    • 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto IX”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, page 129:
      His garment nought but many ragged clouts, / With thornes together pind and patched was, / The which his naked sides he wrapt abouts;
    • c. 1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Iohn”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iv], page 12, columns 1–2:
      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.
    • c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii]:
      […] a clout upon that head
      Where late the diadem stood […]
    • 1743, Robert Drury, The Pleasant, and Surprizing Adventures of Mr. Robert Drury, during his Fifteen Years Captivity on the Island of Madagascar‎[6], London, page 74:
      We condol’d with each other, and observ’d how wretchedly we look’d, all naked, except a small Clout about our Middles […]
    • 1980, Colin Thubron, Seafarers: The Venetians, page 33:
      The Byzantines, wrote Robert of Clari, hooted and jeered from the battlements, "and let down their clouts and showed them their backsides."
  7. (archaic) An iron plate on an axletree or other wood to keep it from wearing; a washer.
    • 1866, James Edwin Thorold Rogers, A History of Agriculture and Prices in England, volume 1, page 546:
      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.
  8. A clout nail.
  9. (obsolete) A piece; a fragment.
Derived terms
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Translations
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Verb

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clout (third-person singular simple present clouts, present participle clouting, simple past and past participle clouted) (transitive)

  1. To hit (someone or something), especially with the fist.
    • [1545?], John Heywood, The Playe Called The Foure PP […], London: […] Wyllyam Myddylton, →OCLC; reprinted as John S. Farmer, editor, The Play Called The Four PP […] (The Tudor Facsimile Texts), London; Edinburgh: […] T. C. & E. C. Jack, […], 1908, →OCLC, signature [E.ii.], verso:
      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.
    • 1997, J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, New York: Arthur A. Levine Books, published 1998, page 57:
      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 toads every time they'd tried to lock him in his cupboard?
  2. To cover with cloth, leather, or other material; to bandage, patch, or mend with a clout.
    • 1549, Hugh Latimer, “[The Second Sermon of Master Hugh Latimer, which He Preached before the King’s Majesty, within His Grace’s Palace at Westminster, the Fifteenth Day of March, 1549.] To the Reader.”, in George Elwes Corrie, editor, Sermons by Hugh Latimer, Sometime Bishop of Worcester, Martyr, 1555 (The Works of Hugh Latimer; I), Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: […] University Press, published 1844, →OCLC, page 110:
      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.
      The spelling has been modernized.
  3. To stud with nails, as a timber, or a boot sole.
  4. To guard with an iron plate, as an axletree.
  5. To join or patch clumsily.
Derived terms
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Translations
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Etymology 2

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Verb

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clout (third-person singular simple present clouts, present participle clouting, simple past and past participle clouted)

  1. Dated form of clot.
    • 1948, The Essex Review:
      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, […]

References

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  1. ^ “clout”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
  2. ^ “clout”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present: “[…] akin to Middle High German klōz lump, Russian gluda”

Middle English

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Etymology 1

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From Old English clūt, from Proto-West Germanic *klūt, from Proto-Germanic *klūtaz. Compare cloud.

Alternative forms

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Pronunciation

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Noun

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clout (plural cloutes)

  1. A (smaller) piece of fabric; a shred:
    1. A patch (fabric for mending).
    2. A bandage or dressing (for wounds)
    3. rag, tatter (piece of clothing)
  2. A (larger) piece of fabric; a cloth:
    1. Threadbare or inferior clothing.
    2. Cloth for wrapping babies; swaddling clothes.
    3. A burial shroud.
  3. A washer; a round metal panel.
  4. A fragment or shred.
  5. A strike, blow or hit.
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Descendants
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  • English: clout
  • Scots: clout, cloot
References
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Etymology 2

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Verb

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clout

  1. Alternative form of clouten
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