clause

Etymology

From Middle English clause, claus, borrowed from Old French clause, from Medieval Latin clausa (Latin diminutive clausula (“close, end; a clause, close of a period”)), from Latin clausus, past participle of claudere (“to shut, close”). See close, its doublet.

noun

1. (grammar) A verb, its necessary grammatical arguments, and any adjuncts affecting them.
2. (grammar) A verb along with its subject and their modifiers. If a clause provides a complete thought on its own, then it is an independent (superordinate) clause; otherwise, it is (subordinate) dependent.
   However, Coordination facts seem to undermine this hasty conclusion: thus, consider the following: (43) [Your sister could go to College], but [would she get a degree?] The second (italicised) conjunct is a Clause containing an inverted Auxiliary, would. Given our earlier assumptions that inverted Auxiliaries are in C, and that C is a constituent of S-bar, it follows that the italicised Clause in (43) must be an S-bar. But our familiar constraint on Coordination tells us that only constituents belonging to the same Category can be conjoined. Since the second Clause in (43) is clearly an S-bar, then it follows that the first Clause must also be an S-bar — one in which the C(omplementiser) position has been left empty. 1988, Andrew Radford, chapter 6, in Transformational grammar: a first course, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, page 300
3. (law) A separate part of a contract, a will or another legal document.

verb

1. (transitive, shipping) To amend (a bill of lading or similar document).
   The question of clausing the bills of lading, so as to avoid "dirtying", which impairs its negotiability, may also be looked into 1970, Asian-African Legal Consultative Committee, Report of the session, number 11
   Any attempt to clause a Bill of Lading will be strenuously resisted by shippers, and they will obtain clean bills in the usual ways 1978, Samir Mankabady, The Hamburg rules on the carriage of goods by sea, page 215
   It was held that the bills of lading presented were in this case 'clean' as they contained no reservations by way of endorsement, clausing or otherwise to suggest that the goods were defective 1990, Alan Mitchelhill, Bills of lading: law and practice
   There is little authority in English law dealing with the liability of a carrier who unnecessarily clauses a bill of lading. 2004, Martin Dockra, Katherine Reece Thomas, Cases & materials on the carriage of goods by sea, page 104