cleg

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“
Being told that the cleg, or horse-fly, would suit his purpose admirably for lure, he addressed himself to Christy, the Highland servant-girl:--"I say, my girl, can you get me some horse-flies?"

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Definitions (5)

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  1. To cling; adhere. [Prov. Eng.]
  2. A name of various insects which are troublesome to horses and cattle from their blood-sucking habits, as the great horsefly or breeze, Tabanus bovinus, also called the gadfly; the Chrysops cæcutiens (see Chrysops); and, in Scotland, the Hæmatopota pluvialis, a smaller grayish-colored fly. Hornets, clegs, and clocks. Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas.
  3. A clever person. [Prov. Eng.]

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Examples (4)

  • Being told that the cleg, or horse-fly, would suit his purpose admirably for lure, he addressed himself to Christy, the Highland servant-girl:—“I say, my girl, can you get me some horse-flies?” Christy looked stupid, and he repeated his question. —  Reminiscences of Scottish Life and Character
  • Being told that the cleg, or horse-fly, would suit his purpose admirably for lure, he addressed himself to Christy, the Highland servant-girl:--"I say, my girl, can you get me some horse-flies?" —  Reminiscences of Scottish Life and Character
  • red keel haul cleg by craola x strangeco —  TOYSREVILs I LIKE TOYS
  • "He's maist michty unsettled like," replied Saunders, "he's for a 'the world like a stirk wi' a horse cleg on him that he canna get at. —  The Lilac Sunbonnet
 

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Etymologies (3)

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (3)

  1. Cf. clag, clog, clay.
  2. Scots and North. English also gleg; from Icelandic kleggi = Norwegian klegg = Danish klæge, a horsefly, prob. from root of clog, clag, clay, etc., as that which ‘sticks’; cf. cleg.
  3. Var. of gleg, q. v.
 

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