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Claw vs Cley - What's the difference?

claw | cley |

In obsolete terms the difference between claw and cley

is that claw is to rail at; to scold while cley is a claw.

As nouns the difference between claw and cley

is that claw is a curved, pointed horny nail on each digit of the foot of a mammal, reptile, or bird while cley is a claw.

As a verb claw

is to scratch or to tear at.

claw

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) clawe, from (etyl) clawu, from (etyl) . Compare West Frisian klau, Dutch klauw, German Klaue, Danish klo.

Noun

(en noun)
  • A curved, pointed horny nail on each digit of the foot of a mammal, reptile, or bird.
  • A foot equipped with such.
  • The pincer (chela) of a crustacean or other arthropod.
  • A mechanical device resembling a claw, used for gripping or lifting.
  • (botany) A slender appendage or process, formed like a claw, such as the base of petals of the pink.
  • (Gray)
  • (juggling, uncountable) The act of catching a ball overhand.
  • Derived terms
    * claw hammer * get one's claws into

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) clawian, from clawu.

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To scratch or to tear at.
  • * '>citation
  • Using her hands like windshield wipers, she tried to flick snow away from her mouth. When she clawed at her chest and neck, the crumbs maddeningly slid back onto her face. She grew claustrophobic.
  • To use the claws to seize, to grip.
  • To use the claws to climb.
  • (juggling) To perform a catch.
  • To move with one's fingertips.
  • * {{quote-news
  • , year=2011 , date=October 15 , author=Phil McNulty , title=Liverpool 1 - 1 Man Utd , work=BBC Sport citation , page= , passage=De Gea was United's hero again within seconds of Hernandez's equaliser, diving to his left to claw away Dirk Kuyt's shot as he got on the end of a superb cross from Stewart Downing.}}
  • (obsolete) To relieve uneasy feeling, such as an itch, by scratching; hence, to humor or flatter, to court someone.
  • * 1599 ,
  • I cannot hide what I am: I must be sad when I have cause, and smile at no man's jests; eat when I have stomach, and wait for no man's leisure; sleep when I am drowsy, and tend on no man's business; laugh when I am merry, and claw no man in his humour.
  • * Holland
  • Rich men they claw , soothe up, and flatter; the poor they contemn and despise.
  • (obsolete) To rail at; to scold.
  • * T. Fuller
  • In the aforesaid preamble, the king fairly claweth' the great monasteries, wherein, saith he, religion, thanks be to God, is right well kept and observed; though he ' claweth them soon after in another acceptation.

    cley

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (obsolete) A claw.
  • * 1662 , , Book II, A Collection of Several Philosophical Writings of Dr. Henry More, p. 74:
  • *:"But that more heavy'' Birds are otherwise provided for defence, namely either by ''Spurs'' that grow on their Legs, or by the strength and sharpness of some single cley in their Foot; as I have observed in the ''Cassoware'' or ''Emeu "
  • Derived terms

    * cleystaff