clout
noun
[ klaʊt ]
• a heavy blow with the hand or a hard object.
• "a clout round the ear"
Similar:
smack,
slap,
thump,
punch,
blow,
hit,
knock,
bang,
cuff,
box,
spanking,
spank,
tap,
clip,
whack,
wallop,
clobbering,
sock,
• influence or power, especially in politics or business.
• "I knew she carried a lot of clout"
Similar:
influence,
power,
pull,
weight,
sway,
leverage,
control,
say,
mastery,
dominance,
domination,
advantage,
authority,
prestige,
standing,
stature,
rank,
teeth,
beef,
muscle,
• a piece of cloth or article of clothing.
• a target twelve times the usual size, placed flat on the ground with a flag marking its centre and used in long-distance shooting.
• short for clout nail.
clout
verb
• hit (someone or something) hard.
• "I clouted him round the head"
Similar:
hit,
strike,
punch,
smack,
slap,
cuff,
thump,
beat,
batter,
pound,
pummel,
thrash,
rap,
spank,
buffet,
hammer,
bang,
knock,
box someone's ears,
wallop,
belt,
whack,
clobber,
sock,
clip,
bop,
biff,
swipe,
tan,
lay one on,
• mend with a patch.
• "he helps the women clout their pans"
Origin:
Old English clūt (in the sense ‘a patch or metal plate’); related to Dutch kluit ‘lump, clod’, also to cleat and clot. The shift of sense to ‘heavy blow’, which dates from late Middle English, is difficult to explain; possibly the change occurred first in the verb (from ‘put a patch on’ to ‘hit hard’).
