Cloots

[klohts]

noun

Jean Bap·tiste du Val-de-Grâce [zhahn ba-teest dy val duh-grahs] /ʒɑ̃ baˈtist dü val dəˈgrɑs/, Baron deAnacharsis Clootz, 1755–94, Prussian leader in the French Revolution.

cloot

[kloot; Scot. klyt]

noun Scot. and North England.

a cloven hoof; one of the divisions of the cloven hoof of the swine, sheep, etc.
(usually initial capital letter) Often Cloots. Satan; the devil.

Origin of cloot

1715–25; perhaps akin to Dutch klauwtje, equivalent to klauw claw + -tje diminutive suffix

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for cloots

Historical Examples of cloots

A friend of Cloots he suffered with him on the scaffold, 24 March, 1794.
A Biographical Dictionary of Freethinkers of All Ages and Nations
Joseph Mazzini Wheeler
Cloots stepped into the chapel for no purpose, in mere idle discernment of color and contrast.
Where the Pavement Ends
John Russell
Cloots arrived as a confident and more or less truly appreciative observer of all these details.
Where the Pavement Ends
John Russell
Cloots had taken the measure of him months before and once for all, he would have said, in his smoky little village.
Where the Pavement Ends
John Russell
Yet Cloots saw now with transfixing clarity that he did not know him in the least—could never have known him.
Where the Pavement Ends
John Russell