▪ I. cleat, n.
(kliːt)
Also 4 cleete, 5–6 clete, (5 clyte, clote), 7 cleit, 8–9 cleet; 7, 9 (dial.) clate.
[This, although evidenced only from 14th c., clearly goes back to an OE. *cléat:—WGer. *klaut, OSax. type *klôt, MDu. cloot, Du. kloot ball, OHG. chloȥ, MHG. klôȥ lump, clump, ball, pommel of sword, wedge, mod.G. klosz clot, clod, lump, dumpling. (The Norse klót pommel, is from LG. or Du.) The OTeut. klauto, was from the same root of which the weak grade klut- has given clot. Outside Teutonic, Kluge compares Lith. gludus cohering, glausti to join closely, press together. The primary meaning was evidently ‘firm lump’, whence the senses ‘clump, ball’ on the one hand, and ‘wedged mass, wedge’ on the other. MHG. still had both; in English the sense ‘wedge’ survives, on the continent that of ‘lump, ball’.]
1. A wedge. (Now applied esp. to the small wedges used in securing the movable parts of a scythe and a plough.)
| 1419 Mem. Ripon (Surtees) III. 146 Et in j clete emp. de Will. Joy, 2d. ex convencione. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 81 Clyte, or clote, or vegge [v.r. clete or wegge], cuneus. 1590 Stanford Churchw. Acct. in Antiquary (1888) 211 For making iij yron cletes and nayles iiijd. 1688 R. Holme Armoury iii. 332/2 The Syth Hoop, and Clat, are those that fasten the Sythe to the Swath. Ibid. iii. 333/2 The Plow Clates, a kind of Wedge to raise the Beame higher or lower. 1879 G. F. Jackson Shropsh. Word-bk., Cleat, Clet, Clut, a small wedge. ‘I mun get some cluts for 'em afore I can begin to mow.’ 1884 R. Holland Chesh. Gloss. (E.D.S.), Clate or Cleat, the small iron wedges used in fastening the parts of a scythe together are called cleats. |
2. Naut. Orig. a small wedge of wood bolted on its side to a spar, etc., that it may by the thickness of its head stop anything from slipping (stop-cleat), afford footing to one climbing (step-cleat), or serve as a point of attachment or resistance. solid cleats: similar pieces left in shaping a plank.
| 1377 Pol. Poems (1859) I. 217 And to that schip ther longed a barge, Of al Fraunce ȝaf nouȝt a cleete. 1626 Capt. Smith Accid. Yng. Seamen 13 An entring ladder or cleats. 1678 Phillips, Cleat, a small Wedge of Wood fastned on the Yards, to keep any Ropes from slipping. 1794 Rigging & Seamanship I. 164 Stop-cleats are nailed to yard-arms, to prevent the slipping of the rigging and the gammoning, and to stop collars on masts. 1849 Sir G. Head Tour Rome I. 47 A man who ascended by means of cleats nailed to the side for the purpose. 1851 H. Melville Whale xxxv. 171 Lofty spars to which the look-outs ascended by means of nailed cleats. 1878 Spry Cruise Challenger x. (ed. 7) 172 Strengthened by timbers lashed with split rattan to solid cleats left for the purpose in each plank. |
b. The name is extended to pieces of wood (or iron) of various shapes, bolted on to parts of the ship for securing the ends of ropes, etc.
belaying cleat: a block of wood or metal with two horns round which a rope is belayed or twisted: if fastened in the deck for greater strength these are called deck-cleat. range cleat: a belaying cleat used for tacks and bow-lines. arm cleat: a belaying cleat with one horn or arm only. thumb-cleat: a small arm cleat. comb-cleat: a semicircular piece of wood bolted on by its diameter, having a hole to receive a grommet or cringle, or pass a rope end through.
| 1769 Falconer Dict. Marine (1789), Cleats, pieces of wood of different shapes, used..to fasten ropes upon in a ship. 1794 Rigging & Seamanship I. 4 Comb Cleats are straight on the inner edge, and round on the back, with a hollow cavity in the middle. Ibid., Sling Cleats of lower yards, are made with one arm: Thumb-cleats are similar to sling-cleats, but smaller, to hang any thing thereon. Ibid. I. 164 Arm or Sling-cleats..have an arm at one end, which lies over the straps of the jeer blocks to prevent their being chaffed. Ibid., Range-cleats are shaped like belaying-cleats, but are much larger, and are bolted through the middle. 1825 H. Gascoigne Nav. Fame 72 The Jibs and Staysails smart they hoist-away And to their Cleets the Haulyards taught belay. 1833 M. Scott Tom Cringle (1862) 347 A cot, or hammock, slung from cleats [i.e. Comb cleats] nailed to the beams above. |
c. A block of wood bolted on to the side of a ship to catch the end of one of the shores by which the ship is supported in dry dock, or in the launching cradle (launching cleat).
| 1856 Kane Arct. Expl. I. xxix. 402 The shores are made to take hold under heavy cleats spiked below the bulwarks. 1869 E. J. Reed Shipbuild. i. 2 By the giving way of the bolts of the launching cleat, she was let down till the bilge bore on the wharf. 1879 White Shipbuild. in Cassell's Techn. Educ. IV. 223/2 At the moment of launching, the fore-ends of the dog-shores are knocked down..clear of the cleats, and the vessel is left free to move. |
d. See quot. (App. = hanging knees.)
| c 1850 Rudim. Navig. (Weale) 107 Cleats, pieces of wood, of various shapes, according to their uses, either to resist or support great weights, bolted under beams to support them where pillars are not used. |
3. A wedge-shaped or other piece fastened on, or left projecting, for any purpose; e.g. as a handle; a trunnion-bracket on a gun-carriage.
| 1611 Cotgr., Auche, a round haspe of yron, or cleit of wood, wherin the barrell of a windles turneth. 1833 Marryat P. Simple xv, Double breechings were rove on the guns..and strong cleats nailed behind the trunnions. 1845 in Archæol. XXXI. 252 (D.) The four corners [of the coffin] were strengthened by iron handles or cleets. 1881 W. C. Borlase ibid. XLIX. 186 It [an urn] possessed two cleats or embryo handles. 1887 A. Atkinson ibid. L. 365 On the inside of the patch, three cleats or projections have been left, carved out of the solid wood. |
4. A short piece of wood (or iron) nailed on transversely to a piece of joinery, in order to secure or strengthen it; also to give footing on a sloping gangway, etc.
| 1854 Encycl. Brit. IV. 277/2 A cradle or wooden trough with ‘cleats’ or ribs fastened across the bottom. 1859 F. Griffiths Artil. Man (1862) 5 Breadth [of a box], 71/4 in. including the cleat. 1873 J. Richards Wood-working Factories 176 A hard wood board..split throughout its length, but held together by the cross cleats. 1881 Mechanic §487 Screw a piece of wood, or cleat as it is technically termed, to this cross piece at F. |
b. dial. in several applications (see quots.).
| a 1825 Forby Voc. East Anglia, Cleat, a thin metallic plate. Jockies and horse-dealers call the light shoe of a running-horse, a clate. 1825 Britton Wiltsh. Words (E.D.S.), Cleet, a patch. 1847–78 Halliwell, Cleat, a piece of iron worn on shoes by country people. Cleat-boards, mud pattens..to enable a person to walk on the mud without sinking into it. 1888 T. T. Wildridge Northumbria 128 This is a ‘cleat’ or wedged-up patch. |
5. Mining: see quots. (Perh. a different word.)
| 1851 Coal-trade Terms, Northumbld. & Durh. 95 Cleat, the vertical joints or facings in coal or stone. There are frequently two cleats in coal, at which, when distinct, the coal may be broken into rhomboidal fragments. 1878 A. Green Coal i. 17 One of the faces called the ‘bord’ or ‘cleat’ is very marked. |
▪ II. cleat, v.
(kliːt)
[f. cleat n.]
1. trans. To fasten to, or with, a cleat; to furnish with cleats.
| 1794 Rigging & Seamanship I. 34 Cleating of yards. 1835 Sir J. Ross N.-W. Pass. iii. 38 Having lashed and cleated the heel about ten feet below the lower rigging. 1847 Key Recov. Gorgon 34 Chocks of timber firmly bolted and cleated to each bow. 1882 Century Mag. Oct. 827 Another wide door led, by a gently descending cleated platform, to the ground. |
2. dial. (See quots. and cf. cleat n.4 b.)
| a 1825 Forby Voc. East Anglia, Cleat, to strengthen with thin plates of metal. Shoe-heels are often cleated with iron; and kitchen utensils worn thin, with copper. 1825 Britton Wiltsh. Words, Cleet, to mend with a patch. |