Heading
Cloth-Market, subs. (old).—A bed. [Of obvious derivation. Cf., Fr., la halle aux draps.] For synonyms, see Bug-walk and Kip.
1738. Swift, Pol. Convers., dial i. I hope your early rising will do you no harm. I find you are but just come out of the cloth market.
1824. T. Fielding, Proverbs, etc. (Familiar Phrases), p. 148. He's in the cloth market. In bed.
Cloud.—See Blow a cloud.
Cloud originally signified tobacco
smoke.—[Grose, 1785.]
Fr., en griller une = to smoke a
pipe or cigarette; also en griller
une sèche and en griller une bouffarde.
Cloud-Cleaner, subs. (nautical).—See
quot. Angel's footstool,
and Cf.
1883. W. Clark Russell, Sailors' Word Book, p. 31. Cloud-cleaner, an imaginary sail jokingly assumed to be carried by Yankee ships.
Clout, subs. (vulgar).—1. A blow;
a kick. For synonyms, see Bang,
Dig, and Wipe.
1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue. Clout: a blow (cant), I'll give you a clout on your jolly nob; I'll give you a blow on the head.
1811. Lexicon Balatronicum, s.v.
1864. M. E. Braddon, Aurora Floyd, ch. xx. 'If you had a father that'd fetch you a clout of the head as soon as look at you, you'd run away perhaps.
2. (thieves').—A pocket-handkerchief. [A.S. clút, a clout or patch; Dan. klud, Swed. klut, or perhaps from the Keltic; hence, any worthless piece of cloth.] For synonyms, see Wipe, sense 2.
1574-1637. Ben Jonson, Metam. Gipsies. And Tidslefoot has lost his clout, he says, with a three-pence and four tokens in't.
1714. Memoirs of John Hall, 4 ed., p. 11. [List of Cant Words in.] Clout: a handkerchief.
1754. Fielding, Jon. Wild, bk. I., ch. ix. A neat double clout, which seemed to have been worn a few weeks only, was pinned under her chin.
1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue. A handkerchief.
1811. Lexicon Balatronicum. A handkerchief (cant). Any pocket handkerchief except a silk one.
1864. Hotten, Slang Dict. Clout, or Rag, a cotton pocket handkerchief (old cant).
3. plural (low).—A woman's under-clothes, from the waist downwards. Also her complete wardrobe, on or off the person.
4. (common).—A woman's 'bandage'; 'diaper'; or 'sanitary.'
Verb (low).—1. To strike. Fr., jeter une mandole. For synonyms, see Tan.
1576-1625. Beaumont and Fletcher [quoted in Annandale's ed. of Ogilvie's Imperial Dict.]. Pay him over the pate, clout him for all his courtesies.
2. (old).—To patch; to tinker.
17(?). Scots Ballad. I'll clout my Johnnie's grey breeks For a' the ill he's done me yet.
1785. Burns, The Jolly Beggars. In vain they searched when off I marched To go and clout the caudron.
Clouter, subs. (old).—A pickpocket—especially
one who
steals handkerchiefs. [From
clout, sense 2 (q.v.), a pocket-handkerchief,
+ er.] Cf., Clouting,
sense 2. For synonyms,
see Stook-hauler.
1839. W. H. Ainsworth, J. Sheppard, p. 158, ed. 1840. Near to these hopeful youths sat a fence, or receiver, bargaining with a clouter, or pickpocket.
Clouting, verbal subs. (common).
1. A beating, basting, or tanning (q.v. for synonyms).—See also Baste.
