clough
/klʌf/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 2.88 in modern English
12
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
1
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A sluice used in returning water to a channel after depositing its sediment on the flooded land.
noun
Alternative form of cloff (“allowance of two pounds in every three hundredweight”).
name
A surname transferred from the common noun.
name
A village and townland in County Down, Northern Ireland.
Example Sentences
- "The day-sky glimmered on the dew[…] And lurked in heath and braken clough"
- "These beds form no good escarpments southward of the clough; but they appear to be higher than the corresponding beds on the opposite side; there would thus seem to be a fault in the valley downthrowing on the west, but it is quite hidden by débris."
- "The features of a clough fall well in with a Teutonic idea that Thor, their thunder-god, had smitten these places when in fits of fury and made the deep gashes in the hillsides."
- "The rabbit killer left his home for the clough"
- "Now we've sorted that out, the easiest way is up the clough and along the bridleway."
- "I have, accordingly, estimated the depth of drain at the lower end to be 1 foot 6 inches deeper than the fill of the clough, and given it a progressive rise to suit with 5 feet depth below the surface at its head."
Etymology
From Middle English clough, clow, cloȝ, from Old English *clōh, from Proto-West Germanic *klą̄h (“cleft, sluice, abyss”), of uncertain origin, possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gel- (“to form into a ball”). Cognate with Scots cleuch (“gorge; ravine”), Old High German klāh (in placenames), Old High German klingo, klinga (“brook, cataract, gulf, rapids”). Perhaps conflated or influenced by Old Norse klofi (“a cleft or rift in a hill, ravine”); compare Dutch kloof (“a slit, crevice, chink”). See also cling, clove.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Usage
- American usage