different between weight vs clout

English

Etymology

From Middle English weight, wei?te, weght, wight, from Old English wiht, ?ewiht (“weight”), from Proto-Germanic *wihtiz ("weight"; compare *wegan? (“to move”)), from Proto-Indo-European *we??- (“to move; pull; draw; drive”).

Cognate with Scots wecht, weicht (“weight”), Saterland Frisian Wächte (“scale”) and Gewicht (“weight”), West Frisian gewicht (“weight”), Dutch gewicht (“weight”), German Low German Wicht, Gewicht (“weight”) and German Gewicht (“weight”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: w?t, IPA^(key): /we?t/
• Rhymes: -e?t
• Homophone: wait

Noun

weight (countable and uncountable, plural weights)

1. The force on an object due to the gravitational attraction between it and the Earth (or whatever astronomical object it is primarily influenced by).
2. An object used to make something heavier.
3. A standardized block of metal used in a balance to measure the mass of another object.
4. Importance or influence.
   • 1907 Alonso de Espinosa, Hakluyt Society & Sir Clements Robert Markham, The Guanches of Tenerife: the holy image of Our Lady of Candelaria, and the Spanish conquest and settlement, Printed for the Hakluyt Society, p116

     Another knight came to settle on the island, a man of much weight and position, on whom the Adelantados of all the island relied, and who was made a magistrate.

   • 1945 Mikia Pezas, The price of liberty, I. Washburn, Inc., p11

     "You surely are a man of some weight around here," I said.

5. (weightlifting) An object, such as a weight plate or barbell, used for strength training.

6. (lubricants) viscosity rating.
8. (physics) Mass (atomic weight, molecular weight, etc.) (in restricted circumstances)
9. (physics, proscribed) Synonym of mass (in general circumstances)
10. (measurement) Mass (net weight, troy weight, carat weight, etc.).
11. (statistics) A variable which multiplies a value for ease of statistical manipulation.
12. (topology) The smallest cardinality of a base.
13. (typography) The boldness of a font; the relative thickness of its strokes.
14. (visual art) The relative thickness of a drawn rule or painted brushstroke, line weight.
15. (visual art) The illusion of mass.
16. (visual art) The thickness and opacity of paint.
17. Pressure; burden.
18. The resistance against which a machine acts, as opposed to the power which moves it.
19. (slang, uncountable) Shipments of (often illegal) drugs.

20. (slang, countable) One pound of drugs, especially cannabis.
    • 2002, Nicholas Dorn, Karim Murji, Nigel South, Traffickers: Drug Markets and Law Enforcement (page 5)

      [I was] doing a weight [1 lb. at that time] a week, sometimes more, sometimes less.
21. (criminal slang, dated) Money.
    • 1974, Martin R. Haskell, ?Lewis Yablonsky, Crime and Delinquency (page 96)

      No matter how much money he makes, he is still a soldier, but he has the weight.

Alternative forms

• wt. (abbreviation)

Derived terms

Related terms

• weigh

Coordinate terms

• mass
• inertial mass
• gravitational mass

Descendants

• ? Japanese: ???? (ueito)
• ? Burmese: ???? (wit)

Translations

Verb

weight (third-person singular simple present weights, present participle weighting, simple past and past participle weighted)

1. (transitive) To add weight to something; to make something heavier.
   1. (transitive, dyeing) To load (fabrics) with barite, etc. to increase the weight.
2. (transitive) To load, burden or oppress someone.
3. (transitive, mathematics) To assign weights to individual statistics.
4. (transitive) To bias something; to slant.
5. (transitive, horse racing) To handicap a horse with a specified weight.
6. (transitive, sports) To give a certain amount of force to a throw, kick, hit, etc.

Translations

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kla?t/
• (Canada) IPA^(key): /kl??t/
• Rhymes: -a?t

Etymology 1

From Middle English clout, from Old English cl?t, from Proto-Germanic *kl?taz, from Proto-Indo-European *gelewdos, from Proto-Indo-European *gel- (“to ball up, amass”). Cognate with Old Norse klútr (“kerchief”), Swedish klut, Danish klud, Middle High German kl?z (“lump”), whence German Kloß, and dialect Russian ????? (gluda). See also cleat. The sense “influence, especially political” originated in the dialect of Chicago, but has become widespread.

Noun

clout (countable and uncountable, plural clouts)

1. Influence or effectiveness, especially political.
2. (regional, informal) A blow with the hand.
   • 1910, Katherine Mansfield, Frau Brenchenmacher Attends A Wedding

     ‘Such a clout on the ear as you gave me… But I soon taught you.’

3. (baseball, informal) A home run.
   • 2011, Michael Vega, "Triple double", in The Boston Globe, August 17, 2011, p. C1.

     '... allowed Boston to score all of its runs on homers, including a pair of clouts by Jacoby Ellsbury ...'

4. (archery) The center of the butt at which archers shoot; probably once a piece of white cloth or a nail head.
   • c. 1594, William Shakespeare, Love's Labour's Lost, Act IV, Scene 1,^[4]

     A’ must shoot nearer or he’ll ne’er hit the clout.

5. (regional, dated) A swaddling cloth.
6. (archaic) A cloth; a piece of cloth or leather; a patch; a rag.
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, London: William Ponsonbie, Book 1, Canto 9, p. 129,^[5]

     His garment nought but many ragged clouts, / With thornes together pind and patched was, / The which his naked sides he wrapt abouts;

   • c. 1600 William Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act II, Scene 2,^[6]

     […] a clout upon that head

     Where late the diadem stood […]

   • 1743, Robert Drury, The Pleasant, and Surprizing Adventures of Mr. Robert Drury, during his Fifteen Years Captivity on the Island of Madagascar, London, p. 74,^[7]

     We condol’d with each other, and observ’d how wretchedly we look’d, all naked, except a small Clout about our Middles […]
7. (archaic) An iron plate on an axletree or other wood to keep it from wearing; a washer.
8. (obsolete) A piece; a fragment.
   • c. 1390s, Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales, “The Merchant’s Tale,” lines 707-709, in The Poetical Works of Geoffrey Chaucer, London: Bell & Daldy, 1866, Volume 2, p. 339,^[8]

     And whan sche of this bille hath taken heede, / Sche rente it al to cloutes atte laste / And into the privy softely it caste.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

clout (third-person singular simple present clouts, present participle clouting, simple past and past participle clouted)

1. To hit, especially with the fist.
2. To cover with cloth, leather, or other material; to bandage, patch, or mend with a clout.
   • 15 March, 1549, Hugh Latimer, The Second Sermon preached before the King's Majesty at Westminster

     Paul, yea, and Peter, too, had more skill in […] clouting an old tent than to teach lawyers.

3. To stud with nails, as a timber, or a boot sole.
4. To guard with an iron plate, as an axletree.
5. To join or patch clumsily.

Translations

Etymology 2

Verb

clout (third-person singular simple present clouts, present participle clouting, simple past and past participle clouted)

1. Dated form of clot.
   • 1948, The Essex Review

     He tells us how to butter eggs, boil eels, clout cream, stew capons, how to make a fine cake, an almond pudding and a raspberry conserve, […]

References

Middle English

Etymology 1

From Old English cl?t, from Proto-West Germanic *kl?t, from Proto-Germanic *kl?taz. Compare cloud.

Alternative forms

• clowt, cloute, clowte, clowtt

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /klu?t/

Noun

clout (plural cloutes)

1. A (smaller) piece of fabric; a shred:
   1. A patch (fabric for mending).
   2. A bandage or dressing (for wounds)
   3. rag, tatter (piece of clothing)
2. A (larger) piece of fabric; a cloth:
   1. Threadbare or inferior clothing.
   2. Cloth for wrapping babies; swaddling clothes.
   3. A burial shroud.
3. A washer; a round metal panel.
4. A fragment or shred.
5. A strike, blow or hit.

Related terms

• clouten
• clouting
• clowter

Descendants

• English: clout
• Scots: clout, cloot

References

• “cl?ut, n.(1).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
• “cl?ut, n.(3).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.

Etymology 2

Verb

clout

1. Alternative form of clouten