Showing results for "clout"

SEE ALSO:

Slang dictionary results for clout.

clout

American  

[klout] / klaʊt /

noun

clouts plural

1. a blow, especially with the hand; cuff.

   The bully gave him a painful clout on the head.

2. Informal. pull; strong influence; muscle, especially political power.

   a wealthy campaign contributor with clout at city hall.

3. Baseball. a long hit, especially an extra-base hit.

   A hard clout to deep center field drove in the winning run.

4. Archery.

   1. the mark or target shot at, especially in long-distance shooting.

   2. a shot that hits the mark.

5. Also called clout nail.  a nail for attaching sheet metal to wood, having a short shank with a broad head.

6. Archaic.

   1. a patch or piece of cloth or other material used to mend something.

   2. any worthless piece of cloth; rag.

   3. an article of clothing (usually used contemptuously).

---

verb (used with object)

1. to strike, especially with the hand; cuff.

2. Archaic.

   1. to bandage.

   2. to patch; mend.

clout British  

/ klaʊt /

noun

1. informal a blow with the hand or a hard object

2. power or influence, esp in politics

3. archery

   1. the target used in long-distance shooting

   2. the centre of this target

   3. a shot that hits the centre

4. Also called: clout nail.  a short, flat-headed nail used esp for attaching sheet metal to wood

5. dialect

   1. a piece of cloth

      a dish clout

   2. a garment

   3. a patch

---

verb

1. informal to give a hard blow to, esp with the hand

2. to patch with a piece of cloth or leather

Usage

What else does clout mean? To have clout is to have influence or power. In popular culture, people with clout are seen as popular and cool.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• clouter
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• clouts
  plural

Etymology

Origin of clout

First recorded before 900; Middle English; Old English clūt “piece of cloth or metal”; cognate with Middle Low German klūte, Old Norse klūtr

Explanation

When you speak of someone having clout, it usually means that they communicate a sense of power or influence, particularly in the political sense. "You’ll wanna talk to that big guy over there if you want me to let you in. He’s got clout." Clout can also mean to hit someone really hard — either the hit you give (“that’s a big clout he just landed”) or the act of hitting (“she clouted him with a baseball bat”). Of course, the sense of having power and the actual hitting are related, since clout is something to be wielded — either physically or figuratively. Note: it's not just tough guys who have clout. China is said to have "growing economic clout," and Oprah is known to have significant clout in the media industry.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

clout clouts

To what extent will the No 10 operation be beefed up, and how much clout will No 10 North, Burnham's office in Manchester, have?

From BBC ● Jul. 19, 2026

Instead, he argues, it has a responsibility to use its clout to speed up the shift to cleaner operations.

From BBC ● Jul. 9, 2026

But the shift underscores a dramatic loss of clout by Comcast and other traditional media enterprises.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 2, 2026

Mitra used Welltower’s clout to secure exclusive partnerships with some of the industry’s strongest operators while giving them better data, technology and incentives to improve performance.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 29, 2026

This may have spoken to his clout, since there often wasn’t room in there.

From "Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing" by Ted Conover

His clouts were described by The Times as “gigantic.”

From New York Times ● Oct. 22, 2021

Makes some space and clouts Hazlewood over long-on.

From The Guardian ● Feb. 5, 2016

The liner off Steve Trachsel, the shortest of McGwire’s mostly mammoth clouts that season, curled over the left-field wall at old Busch Stadium.

From Washington Times ● Oct. 9, 2015

The liner off Steve Trachsel, the shortest of McGwire's mostly mammoth clouts that season, curled over the left-field wall at old Busch Stadium.

From US News ● Oct. 9, 2015

It is a harlequin of a poem, a thing of threads and patches; and there are gold threads in it and tattered clouts.

From Figures of Several Centuries by Symons, Arthur

Related Words

• influence
• prestige
• sway
• weight