clout

Etymology 1

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”), Swedish klut, Danish klud, Middle High German klōz (“lump”), whence German Kloß, and dialect Russian глуда (gluda). See also cleat.

noun

1. Influence or effectiveness, especially political.
   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 1975, Len O'Connor, Clout--Mayor Daley and His City, page 74
   […]ethics officers themselves often complain that they can recommend but have little clout with which to create real change. (Can we date this quote?), Tony Alessandra, The New Art of Managing People, page 76
   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. December 15, 2011, Felicity Cloake, “How to cook the perfect nut roast”, in Guardian
   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 looking for some clout / I had what they wanted so they always came around 2017, Kimetrius Foose (Lil Skies), Myron Goedhart (lyrics and music), “Fake”, performed by Lil Skies
   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. 2019-11-29, Taylor Lorenz, “Here’s What’s Happening in the American Teenage Bedroom”, in New York Times
2. (regional, informal) A blow with the hand.
   ‘Such a clout on the ear as you gave me… But I soon taught you.’ 1910, Katherine Mansfield, Frau Brenchenmacher Attends A Wedding
   One of her goons gave him a clout on the ear. 1985, Brian Daley, Jinx on a Terran Inheritance, page 338
3. (baseball, informal) A home run.
   '... allowed Boston to score all of its runs on homers, including a pair of clouts by Jacoby Ellsbury ...' August 17 2011, Michael Vega, “Triple double”, in The Boston Globe, page C1
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.
   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. 1851, Herman Melville, Moby Dick, Chapter 12
6. (archaic) A cloth; a piece of cloth or leather; a patch; a rag.
   We condol’d with each other, and observ’d how wretchedly we look’d, all naked, except a small Clout about our Middles […] 1743, Robert Drury, The Pleasant, and Surprizing Adventures of Mr. Robert Drury, during his Fifteen Years Captivity on the Island of Madagascar, London, page 74
   The Byzantines, wrote Robert of Clari, hooted and jeered from the battlements, "and let down their clouts and showed them their backsides." 1980, Colin Thubron, Seafarers: The Venetians, page 33
7. (archaic) An iron plate on an axletree or other wood to keep it from wearing; a washer.
   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. 1866, James Edwin Thorold Rogers, A History of Agriculture and Prices in England, volume 1, page 546
8. A clout nail.
9. (obsolete) A piece; a fragment.

verb

1. To hit, especially with the fist.
   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? 1997, J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, New York: Arthur A. Levine Books, published 1998, page 57
2. To cover with cloth, leather, or other material; to bandage, patch, or mend with a clout.
   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. 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
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.
   if fond Bavius vent his clouted song 1633, Phineas Fletcher, The Purple Island

Etymology 2

verb

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