Page:Farmer - Slang and its analogues past and present - Volume 2.pdf/137

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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.