Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A blow, especially with the fist.
- n. Baseball A long powerful hit.
- n. Sports An archery target.
- n. Informal Influence; pull: "Women in dual-earner households are gaining in job status and earnings ... giving them more clout at work and at home” ( Sue Shellenbarger).
- n. Informal Power; muscle.
- n. Chiefly Midland U.S. A piece of cloth, especially a baby's diaper.
- v. To hit, especially with the fist.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A patch; a piece of cloth, leather, etc., used to mend something.
- n. Any piece of cloth, especially a worthless piece, or one designed for a mean use; a rag.
- n. Any small piece; a fragment; a tatter; a bit.
- n. In archery: The mark fixed in the center of the butts at which archers are shooting.
- n. A small white target placed near the ground.
- n. An arrow that has hit the target.
- n. An iron plate fastened upon an axletree to keep it from wearing.
- To patch; mend by sewing on a clout or patch; cobble; hence, to join clumsily.
- To cover with a piece of cloth or with rags; bandage.
- To rub with an old piece of cloth, felt, or the like.
- n. A blow with the hand; a cuff.
- To strike with the hand; cuff.
- n. Same as clout-nail.
- To stud or fasten with nails.
Wiktionary
- n. Influence or effectiveness, especially political.
- n. regional, informal A blow with the hand.
- n. informal A home run.
- n. archery The center of the butt at which archers shoot; probably once a piece of white cloth or a nail head.
- n. regional, dated A swaddling cloth.
- n. archaic A cloth; a piece of cloth or leather; a patch; a rag.
- n. archaic An iron plate on an axletree or other wood to keep it from wearing; a washer.
- n. obsolete A piece; a fragment.
- v. To hit, especially with the fist.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A cloth; a piece of cloth or leather; a patch; a rag.
- n. A swadding cloth.
- n. obsolete A piece; a fragment.
- n. The center of the butt at which archers shoot; -- probably once a piece of white cloth or a nail head.
- n. An iron plate on an axletree or other wood to keep it from wearing; a washer.
- n. Low A blow with the hand.
- v. To cover with cloth, leather, or other material; to bandage; patch, or mend, with a clout.
- v. To join or patch clumsily.
- v. To quard with an iron plate, as an axletree.
- v. Low To give a blow to; to strike.
- v. To stud with nails, as a timber, or a boot sole.
WordNet 3.0
- n. special advantage or influence
- n. (boxing) a blow with the fist
- n. a target used in archery
- n. a short nail with a flat head; used to attach sheet metal to wood
- v. strike hard, especially with the fist
Etymologies
- Old English clūt, from Proto-Germanic *klūtaz, from Proto-Indo-European *glūdos. Cognate with Old Norse klútr ("kerchief") (Swedish klut, Danish klud), Middle High German klōz ("lump") (German Kloß), dialect Russian глуда (gluda). See also cleat. The sense "influence, especially political" originated in the dialect of Chicago, but has become widespread. (Wiktionary)
- Middle English, probably from Old English clūt, cloth patch. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“You speculated how the word clout came to mean “to steal.””
“Groups with a lot of members gain clout, but those groups also gain strife.”
“Bloomberg News CALCULATED RISK: Garanti Bankasi will provide a gateway for BBVA to gain clout in Turkey.”
“The Chinese military's political clout is expected to grow as the Communist Party's ruling Politburo Standing Committee — whose nine members are all civilians and don't include a foreign-policy specialist — prepares for China's change to new leadership in 2012.”
“As cities around the U.S. struggle to raise money, a little-known financial-advisory firm has grown in clout and courted some controversy along the way.”
The Wall Street Journal: Adviser Takes Heat for Helping Sell Off Public Assets
“The company's clout is so strong in the art community that they were able to request original works with the theme of the Pink Ribbon that signifies one's support of the many charities fundraising for the fight against breast cancer.”
“The industry's clout is more than financial, however.”
The Huffington Post: Nancy Chuda: As TSCA Collapses, Toxic Baby Fights Back (VIDEO)
“Pro-business House Democrats are seizing on the high-stakes issue of writing new financial rules as a way to gain clout – and a few headlines – in the larger, crowded Democratic Caucus.”
Matthew Yglesias » Never Fear — the New Democrat Caucus Is Here
“While its economic clout is no match for China's, the region is emerging as a source of sorely needed industrial demand.”
The Wall Street Journal: Companies Get Earnings Boost From Latin America
“The reason the NRA has clout is that it is monolithic and big.”
Why Businesses (Big and Small) Should Support Climate Action
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘clout’.
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Test Prep or Just for fun
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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Headlines & Newsmakers
frugality, environment, extinction, bible, killer, jazz, cloning, dead, god, moon, global warming, bailout and 340 more...
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Mobying Along
looks like there's not an open Moby Dick list. So now there is.
hypos, Manhattoes, circumambulate, mole, grapnels, bowsprit, asphaltic, mazy, tranced, cataract, ungraspable, judgmatically and 227 more...
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Words from Blood Meridian
visage, affray, scullery, miasma, mirth, purlieu, tacit, benighted, wickiup, corral, amble, accoutre and 210 more...
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2nd part
prelude, ample, escalate, prototype, accession, acquisition, archives, zealot, indict, verdict, intimidating, timid and 454 more...
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sound (quiet)
words for quiet sounds
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The Request Line
This is the place to add words you'd like Charles Harrington Elster to pronounce for you!
swingeing, affiant, dahlia, hydrangea, re, clematis, Nabokov, casu marzu, schadenfreudgeon, nefarious, mewl, manteion and 170 more...
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Greenaway
hobbyist of the a..., Violent Unknown E..., keeper of the owls, avian blasphemy, unusual amounts o..., Responsibility of..., Bird List Song, exaggerated respe..., skin-wing aggriev..., sexual quadrimorp..., Society for Ornit..., she pronounced or... and 22 more...
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SAT Words
Know these common SAT words
taciturn, docile, expedient, superfluous, eclectic, impromptu, dogmatic, invidious, rhetoric, tenacious, pretentious, parsimony and 14 more...
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essbunny@gmail.com's list
Intrigued by these words...
sphincter, blush, flume, shingle, spurt, pulp, precious, squeal, zest, zeal, cherish, fervor and 35 more...
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Moby Dick
Words of interest from the book Moby Dick.
arrant, obstreperously, coffer-dam, farrago, rejoinder, counterpane, hamper, commend, grego, dreadnought, psalmody, expostulation and 85 more...
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Words that hurt
A collection of words that inflict pain. If you liked this, check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunch_Money_(game)
jab, headbutt, headlock, choke, elbow, grab, kick, slap, roundhouse, spinning backfist, stomp, uppercut and 40 more...
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Mr. Pronunciation's Bad Day
Mr. Pronunciation is an upstanding and reliable sort of dude. He's like the Clark Kent of the pronunciation world. Sometimes, though, he botches up a pronunciation and, you know, he's in a hurry an...
colonel, treacle, cruel, laissez faire, poo, stupid, sashay, concrete, birthmark, chic, draught, gaur and 11 more...
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ash vocab
flippant, fillip, expiate, explicate, extirpate, facile, florid, fealty, allegiance, fetid, febrile, pert and 134 more...
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MiaLuthien's list ♥
gambit, prehensile, coquetry, impunity, genuflect, ensconce, clavicle, delude, beget, castigate, life caching, convoluted and 478 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for clout.

jwjarvis empowered them with the necessary economic clout to break free from the confining view that health care was merely a generic good. Sep 14, 2010
gangerh Tout your clout. Jan 9, 2010
PossibleUnderscore I am totally aghast! Mr. Pronunciation has really let us down this time. You better add it to the list Pro. Jan 9, 2010
Prolagus Mr. Pronunciation's bad day, or just an alternative pronunciation? Jan 8, 2010
ravnsnaes Også "slagkraft" Jan 5, 2010
amhey Ne'er cast a clout
Ere May be out!
Clout here means an item of clothing. Typically it meant don't get rid of your winter camisole (vest UK) before the end of May as it could get cold. Jul 7, 2009
yarb ...a new-hatched savage running wild about his native woodlands in a grass clout...
- Melville, Moby-Dick, ch. 12 Jul 23, 2008