clitch, to bend, clench (the fist). Hellowes, Guevara’s Fam. Ep. 145 (NED.); clighte, pp., Bossewell, Armorie, ii. 119b. Cp. the west country clitch, to grasp tightly (EDD.). OE. clycchan, pp. geclyht.

clogdogdo, a term of contempt. B. Jonson, Silent Woman, iv. 1 (Otter). A nonce-word.

close fight, a sea term; a kind of screen used in a naval engagement. Marston, Antonio, Pt. I, i. 1 (Antonio). See [fights].

closh, clash, the name of an old game, played with a ball or bowl. Spelt claisshe, Sir T. Elyot, Governour, bk. i, c. 27, § 8. See Cowell’s Interpreter and Strutt’s Sports. Closh was orig. the name of the bowl. Du. klos, a wooden Boule (Hexham).

closure, bound, limit, circuit. Richard III, iii. 3. 11; an entrenchment, fortress, Greene, Looking Glasse (ed. 1861, p. 123); Surrey, tr. Aeneid, ii. 296. OF. closure, confine, limits (Dialoge Greg., 74); Late L. clausura, a castle, fort (Justinian).

clote, the yellow water-lily; Nuphar lutea. Fletcher, Faithful Shepherdess, ii. 2. 12. Still in use in the south-west of England, see EDD. (s.v. Clote, (1)). OE. clāte, which was the name of various plants resembling the burdock, see NED.

clottered, clotted. Mirror for Mag., Buckingham, st. 14; ‘Congrée, congealed, clottered’, Cotgrave. Du. kloteren, or klonteren, ‘to curdle or growe thick as milke doth’ (Hexham). See [cluttered].

clout, a piece of cloth or linen, a rag. Hamlet, ii. 2. 537; Richard III, i. 3. 177; hence, clouted, patched, Bible, Joshua ix. 5. In prov. use, esp. in the north, see EDD. (s.v. Clout, sb.1 3).

clout, a square piece of canvas, which formed the mark to be aimed at, at the archery butts, L. L. L. iv. 1. 138; 2 Hen. IV, iii. 2. 52.

clout, to cuff heavily, Bible, 2 Sam. xxii. 39; clouted, pp. hit, Beaumont and Fl., Hum. Lieutenant, iii. 7. 1. In gen. vulgar use, see EDD. (s.v. Clout, vb.2 1).