different between cloff vs clough

English

Alternative forms

• clough

Noun

cloff (plural cloffs)

1. (historical) An allowance of two pounds in every three hundredweight after the tare and tret are subtracted; now used only in a general sense, of small deductions from the original weight.

References

• cloff in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English clough, clow, clogh, Old English *cl?h, from Proto-Germanic *klanhaz, *klanh? (“cleft, sluice, abyss”), of unknown origin. Cognate with Scots cleuch (“gorge; ravine”), Old High German kl?h (in placenames), Old High German klingo, klinga (“brook, cataract, gulf, rapids”). Perhaps conflated or influenced by Old Norse klofi (“a cleft or rift in a hill, ravine”); compare Dutch kloof (“a slit, crevice, chink”). See also cling, clove.

Alternative forms

• cleugh, cleuch (Scotland)
• cleugh (Northumbria)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kl?f/, /kla?/

Noun

clough (plural cloughs)

1. (Northern England, US) A narrow valley; a cleft in a hillside; a ravine, glen, or gorge.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Nares to this entry?)

2. A sluice used in returning water to a channel after depositing its sediment on the flooded land.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Knight to this entry?)

3. A cliff; a rocky precipice.
4. (dialectal) The cleft or fork of a tree; crotch.
5. (dialectal) A wood; weald.

Derived terms

• Howden Clough

Etymology 2

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Alternative forms

• cloff

Pronunciation

Noun

clough (plural cloughs)

1. Formerly an allowance of two pounds in every three hundredweight after the tare and tret are subtracted; now used only in a general sense, of small deductions from the original weight.

References

• Douglas Harper (2001–2021) , “clough”, in Online Etymology Dictionary
• clough in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.