Clout vs Flail - What's the difference?
clout | flail | Related terms |
Influence or effectiveness, especially political.
* {{quote-news
, year=2011
, date=December 15
, author=Felicity Cloake
, title=How to cook the perfect nut roast
, work=Guardian
(regional, informal) A blow with the hand.
* 1910 , , Frau Brenchenmacher Attends A Wedding
(informal) A home run.
* 2011 , , "Triple double", in The Boston Globe , August 17, 2011, p. C1.
(archery) The center of the butt at which archers shoot; probably once a piece of white cloth or a nail head.
* Shakespeare
(regional, dated) A swaddling cloth.
(archaic) A cloth; a piece of cloth or leather; a patch; a rag.
* Spenser
* Shakespeare
*
(archaic) An iron plate on an axletree or other wood to keep it from wearing; a washer.
* 1866 , , A History of Agriculture and Prices in England , Volume 1, p. 546.
(obsolete) A piece; a fragment.
To hit, especially with the fist.
To cover with cloth, leather, or other material; to bandage; patch, or mend, with a clout.
* Latimer
To stud with nails, as a timber, or a boot sole.
To guard with an iron plate, as an axletree.
To join or patch clumsily.
* P. Fletcher
A tool used for threshing, consisting of a long handle with a shorter stick attached with a short piece of chain, thong or similar material.
A weapon which has the (usually spherical) striking part attached to the handle with a flexible joint such as a chain.
His shadowy flail hath threshed the corn
That ten day-labourers could not end; * 1816 — *: Huge fragments vaulted like rebounding hail,
Or chaffy grain beneath the thresher's flail * 1842 — *: On him alone the curse of Cain
Fell, like a flail on the garnered grain,
And struck him to the earth! * 1879 — , ch V *: If the farmer must use the spade because he has not capital enough for a plough, the sickle instead of the reaping machine, the flail instead of the thresher... To beat using a flail or similar implement.
To wave or swing vigorously
*
* 1937 , ,
To thresh.
To move like a flail.
Clout is a related term of flail.
As nouns the difference between clout and flail
is that clout is influence or effectiveness, especially political while flail is a tool used for threshing, consisting of a long handle with a shorter stick attached with a short piece of chain, thong or similar material.As verbs the difference between clout and flail
is that clout is to hit, especially with the fist while flail is to beat using a flail or similar implement.clout
English
Noun
(en noun)citation, page= , passage=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. Vegetarian tweeter Jessica Edmonds tells me her boyfriend likes a similar recipe because "it tastes of Twiglets!". I'm with him – frankly, what's Christmas without a Twiglet? – but Annie Bell's goat's cheese has given me an idea for something even more festive. Stilton works brilliantly with parsnips, providing a savoury richness which feels a little more special than common or garden yeast extract. Blue cheese calls to mind the chestnuts used by Mary Berry of course, and now I'm on a roll, I pop in some sage and onion too, in a nod to the classic festive stuffing. }}
- 'Such a clout on the ear as you gave me… But I soon taught you.'
- '... allowed Boston to score all of its runs on homers, including a pair of clouts by Jacoby Ellsbury ...'
- A' must shoot nearer or he'll ne'er hit the clout .
- His garments, nought but many ragged clouts , / With thorns together pinned and patched was.
- a clout upon that head where late the diadem stood
- 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.
- (Chaucer)
Derived terms
* breech-clout * clout list * clout-nail * ne'er cast a clout til May be outVerb
(en verb)- Paul, yea, and Peter, too, had more skill in clouting an old tent than to teach lawyers.
- if fond Bavius vent his clouted song
References
flail
English
Noun
(en noun)Quotations
* 1631 — *: When in one night, ere glimpse of morn,His shadowy flail hath threshed the corn
That ten day-labourers could not end; * 1816 — *: Huge fragments vaulted like rebounding hail,
Or chaffy grain beneath the thresher's flail * 1842 — *: On him alone the curse of Cain
Fell, like a flail on the garnered grain,
And struck him to the earth! * 1879 — , ch V *: If the farmer must use the spade because he has not capital enough for a plough, the sickle instead of the reaping machine, the flail instead of the thresher...
Coordinate terms
*(weapon) nunchakuVerb
(en verb)- He stopped in his tracks – then, flailing his arms wildly in the air, began to stagger backwards.
- He was flailing wildly, but didn't land a blow.