Clods and Stickings, subs. phr. (paupers’).—See quot.
1871. Daily Telegraph, 24 Oct., Henry Melville’s (the pauper)
passionate, ‘beutiful,’ for Stepney Workhouse is a grotesque reflex
of Marie Stuart’s pathetic farewell to France. Is the skilly we
wonder most ‘beutiful’ at Stepney, or are the clods and stickings
unusually free from bone.
Cloister-Roush, subs. (Winchester College: obsolete).—See quot.
1870. Mansfield, School Life at Winchester College, p. 117. We had
some singular customs at the commencement of Cloister time. Senior
part and Cloisters, just before the entrance of the Masters into
School, used to engage in a kind of general tournament; this was
called Cloister Roush.
Clootie (Scots).—The Devil.—See Cloots.
1786. Burns, Address to the Deil. Auld Hornie, Satan, Nick, or
clootie.
Cloots (Scots), subs.—Hooves.
1786. Burns, The Death and Dying Words of Puir Mailie. An’ no to
rin and wear his cloots, Are ither menseless, graceless brutes.
Close as Wax, adv. phr. (general).—Miserly; niggardly; secretive. [A
simile derived mainly from close, adj. = hidden or reticent.]
1863. C. Reade, Hard Cash, I., 231. Then commenced a long and
steady struggle, conducted with a Spartan dignity and self command,
and a countenance as close as wax.
Close-File, subs. (old).—A person secretive or ‘close’; not ‘open’ or
communicative. [From close, adj. = secretive + file = a man.]
1839. Harrison Ainsworth, Jack Sheppard [1889], p. 8. Tom Sheppard
was always a close file, and would never tell whom he married.
Cloth. [Generally the cloth], subs. (colloquial).—Primarily clergymen;
the members of a particular profession. For synonyms, see Devil-dodger.
1836. C. Dickens, Pickwick Papers (about 1827), p. 363 (ed. 1857).
‘I maintain that that ’ere song’s personal to the cloth,’ said the
mottle-faced gentleman.
1864. Daily Review, Nov. 3. It might have seemed more decorous to
draw our illustration of the Doctor’s [Revd.] ingenuity from an
incident related of two persons who have some right to be
considered as in a sense belonging to the cloth—The Abbess and
Novice of Andouillets.
Clothes-Line. Able to sleep upon a clothes-line, phr. (common).—Capable
of sleeping anywhere or in any position; said of those able and willing
to rest as well upon the roughest ‘shakedown’ as upon the most
comfortable bed. [Cf., Two-penny rope and plank-bed.] Also applied in a
transferred sense—a synonym for general capacity and ability.
Clothes-Pin. That’s the sort of clothes-pin I am, phr.
(popular).—That’s the sort of man I am. In the case of women That’s the
sort of hair-pin (q.v.).
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.