clout
part of speech
noun (clout; also a clout, clouts); verb (clout, clouts, clouted, clouting)
meaning for a pupil
1) (noun) Power and influence over what happens: «The big companies have a lot of clout». tree →
2) (noun, informal, UK) A hard hit, especially with the hand: «a clout round the ear». tree →
3) (verb, informal) To hit someone or something hard. tree →
4) (noun, sport) In baseball or cricket, a hard hit of the ball. tree →
5) (noun, old, UK dialect) A piece of cloth or a rag, as in the saying «Ne'er cast a clout till May be out». tree →
sense in the lessons
In news and politics «clout» means power to get your way: rich countries, big firms or famous people «have clout». In stories set in the past, an angry adult might give a naughty child «a clout», which today we know is hitting and is not okay. In sport commentary a batter «clouts» the ball for a home run or a six. Phrases: «political clout», «financial clout», «have clout», «a clout round the ear», «don't cast a clout till May be out» (do not take off warm clothes too early in spring).
examples
- The school council does not have much clout, but the head teacher listens to it. tree →
- Big supermarkets use their clout to get low prices from farmers. tree →
- In the old story, the farmer gave the boy a clout round the ear. tree →
- The batter clouted the ball over the fence. tree →
- Hitting people is wrong, so nobody should get a clout for a mistake. tree →
- Grandma says, «Ne'er cast a clout till May be out», so I kept my coat on. tree →
- The star footballer's clout helped raise money for the hospital. tree →
- That country has a lot of clout at the United Nations. tree →
- He didn't like that at all, and it would be mean to give one of them a clout. tree →
note
«Clout» meaning power is uncountable (much clout, a lot of clout). «A clout» meaning a hit is countable. The «hit» sense is informal and mostly British; hitting a person is never a safe or kind thing to do. Do not confuse with «cloud» (sky) or «clot» (a lump of blood; also UK slang for a silly person).
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «clout» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.