cleek
Americannoun
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Chiefly Scot. a large hook, especially one fixed to the inside walls of a house to hold clothing, pots, or food.
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Golf: Older Use. a club with an iron head, a narrow face, and little slope, used for shots from a poor lie on the fairway and sometimes for putting.
verb (used with object)
noun
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a large hook, such as one used to land fish
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golf a former name for a club, corresponding to the modern No. 1 or No. 2 iron, used for long low shots
Etymology
Origin of cleek
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English ( Scots ) cleke “hook,” derivative of cleke “to take hold of,” variant of cleche, akin to clutch 1
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
It was also an impressive feat, given that Terry and his teammates were hitting rubberlike gutta percha balls with handmade wooden-shafted clubs that, instead of numbers, bore names like brassie, niblick, spoon and cleek.
From New York Times ● Oct. 31, 2021
"I accused them of telling me it's 'on cleek'."
From US News ● Jun. 10, 2015
At the time, Niccol informed the audience of analysts and investors about the millennial phrase "on cleek," which he explained meant "on point."
From US News ● Jun. 10, 2015
To the firm work of his putting cleek, a cut putt or a wide were rare exceptions.
From Time Magazine Archive
Steve Ventnor was less fortunate, dribbling his sixth up the hill, fifty yards short of the quarry, into which, trying a long cleek shot to clear it, he unfortunately drove.
From The Maker of Opportunities by George Gibbs
She turnt her face to the drivin snaw, To the snaw but and the weet; It claucht her snood, an' awa like a dud Her hair drave oot i' the sleet.
From The poetical works of George MacDonald in two volumes — Volume 2 by George MacDonald
There cam a gowst of wind, claught her by the coats, and awa' wi' her bag and baggage.
I think, to this hour, how I saw her at the window, how the fire came in behind her, and claught her like a fiery Belzebub, and bore her into perdition before our eyes.
From The Annals of the Parish; or, the chronicle of Dalmailing during the ministry of the Rev. Micah Balwhidder by John Galt
It was a braw spring morn, and Tam whustled as he claught in the young geese.
From The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition Vol. 11 (of 25) by Robert Louis Stevenson
Helpless, alane, thou clamb the brae, Wi' meikle honest toil, And claught th' unfading garland there— Thy sair-worn, rightful spoil.
From Poems and Songs of Robert Burns by Robert Burns
Ae spring brought off her master hale, But left behind her ain grey tail: The carlin claught her by the rump, And left poor Maggie scarce a stump.
From Poems and Songs of Robert Burns by Robert Burns
At length he is cleeked in earnest, and hauled to shore; he proves one of the grey-skull newly run, and weighs somewhat above twenty pounds.
From Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine — Volume 54, No. 333, July 1843 by Various
O, mind ye how we hung our heads, How cheeks brent red wi' shame, Whene'er the scule-weans, laughin', said We cleeked thegither hame?
From The World's Best Poetry, Volume 3 Sorrow and Consolation by Bliss Carman
More ladders, tied safely together, were hoisted to riggings of buildings and held in place by ropes conveniently cleeked round chimneys.
From Patsy by S. R. (Samuel Rutherford) Crockett
“Hurrah!” shouted Olaf, with a flourish of his weapon, which made the narrowest possible miss of cleeking Tyrker by the nose.
From The Norsemen in the West by R. M. (Robert Michael) Ballantyne
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
