英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

cloudless (adj.)[cloudless 词源字典]: 1590s, from cloud (n.) + -less.[cloudless etymology, cloudless origin, 英语词源]
cloudlet (n.): 1788, from cloud (n.) + diminutive suffix -let.
cloudy (adj.): Old English cludig "rocky, hilly, full of cliffs;" see cloud (n.). Meaning "of the nature of clouds" is recorded from c. 1300; meaning "full of clouds" is late 14c.; that of "not clear" is from 1580s. Figurative sense of "gloomy" is late 14c. Related: Cloudiness; cloudily.
clough (n.): "ravine with a river," Old English cloh (in place names), of uncertain origin.
clout (n.): Old English clut "lump of something," also "patch of cloth put over a hole to mend it," from Proto-Germanic *klutaz (cognates: Old Norse klute "kerchief," Danish klud "rag, tatter," Frisian klut "lump," Dutch kluit "clod, lump"); perhaps related to clot (v.).

In later use "a handkerchief," also "a woman's sanitary napkin." Sense of "a blow" is from c. 1400 early 14c., from the verb. Sense of "personal influence" is 1958, on the notion of "punch, force."
clout (v.): "to beat, strike," early 14c., from clout (n.), perhaps on the notion of hitting someone with a lump of something, or from the "patch of cloth" sense of that word (compare clout (v.) "to patch, mend," mid-14c.). Related: Clouted; clouting.
clove (n.1): dried flowerbud of a certain tropical tree, used as a spice, late 15c., earlier clowes (14c.), from Anglo-French clowes de gilofre (c. 1200), Old French clou de girofle "nail of gillyflower," so called from its shape, from Latin clavus "a nail" (see slot (n.2)). For second element, see gillyflower. The two cloves were much confused in Middle English. The clove pink is so called from the scent of the flowers.
clove (n.2): "slice of garlic," Old English clufu "clove (of garlic), bulb, tuber," from Proto-Germanic *klubo "cleft, thing cloven," from PIE *gleubh- "to tear apart, cleave" (see cleave (v.1)). Its Germanic cognates mostly lurk in compounds that translate as "clove-leek," such as Old Saxon clufloc, Old High German chlobilouh. Dissimilation produced Dutch knoflook, German knoblauch.
cloven (adj.): "divided, split," Old English clofen, past participle adjective from cleave (v.1).
clover (n.): Middle English, from Old English clafre, clæfre "clover," from Proto-Germanic *klaibron (cognates: Old Saxon kle, Middle Low German klever, Middle Dutch claver, Dutch klaver, Old High German kleo, German Klee "clover"), which is of uncertain origin.

Klein and Liberman write that it is probably from West Germanic *klaiwaz- "sticky pap" (see clay), and Liberman adds, "The sticky juice of clover was the base of the most popular sort of honey." First reference in English to the suposed luck of a four-leaf clover is from c. 1500. To be in clover "live luxuriously" is 1710, "clover being extremely delicious and fattening to cattle" [Johnson]. Four-leaf clover attested from 1845.
cloverleaf (n.): 1882, from clover + leaf (n.). Highway interchange sense attested by 1933.
Clovis: type of prehistoric stone spearpoints, 1943, from Clovis, New Mexico, U.S., near which place they were found. The town is said to have been named for the Frankish king Clovis (Latinized from Frankish Chlodovech, from Germanic masc. proper name *hluda-wigaz "famous in battle," cognate with Ludwig and Louis).
clowder: 1811, variant of clutter.
clown (n.): 1560s, clowne, also cloyne, "rustic, boor, peasant," origin uncertain. Perhaps from Scandinavian dialect (compare Icelandic klunni "clumsy, boorish fellow;" Swedish kluns "a hard knob; a clumsy fellow," Danish klunt "log, block"), or akin to North Frisian klönne "clumsy person." Or, less likely, from Latin colonus "colonist, farmer," though awareness of this word might have influenced the sense development in English.

Meaning "professional fool, professional or habitual jester" is c. 1600. "The pantomime clown represents a blend of the Shakes[pearean] rustic with one of the stock types of the It. comedy" [Weekley]. Meaning "contemptible person" is from 1920s. Fem. form clowness attested from 1801.
clown (v.): c. 1600, "to play the clown onstage," from clown (n.); colloquial sense of "to behave inappropriately" (as in clown around, 1932) attested by 1928, perhaps from theatrical slang sense of "play a (non-comical) part farcically or comically" (1891). Related: Clowned; clowning.
clownage (n.): "function or manners of a clown or jester," 1580s, from clown (n.) + -age.
clownery (n.): 1580s, from clown (n.) + -ery.
clownify (v.): 1610s, from clown (n.) + -ify. Related: Clownified; clownifying.
clowning (n.): 1861, verbal noun from clown (v.).
clownish (adj.): 1560s, "rustic;" 1580s, "boorish, ungainly, awkward," from clown (n.) + -ish. Related: Clownishly; clownishness.