▪ I. clat, n.1 dial.
[With sense 1, cf. Da. klat blot, splash of dirt; also clot, clod. Sense 2 may be quite distinct, and possibly related to claut.]
1. A clod, a clot of dirt, esp. of cow-dung.
| 1619 Z. Boyd Battle of Soul (1629) 35 (Jam.) Wormes crawling and creeping vpon a clat or clod of clay. 1829 J. L. Knapp Jrnl. Naturalist 49 A dry March for the clat-harvest was considered very desirable. 1834 Brit. Husb. I. 27 Clats..the dung of cattle as fuel..collected from the pastures at the close of summer. 1877 N. W. Lincoln. Gloss., Clat, (2) Anything dirty or sticky, (4) Spoon meat. 1881 Leicestersh. Gloss. (E.D.S.), Clat, var. pron. of ‘clot’ and ‘clod’, a spot or lump of dirt, soil, etc. Applied specially to the droppings of cattle. 1888 Elworthy W. Som. Gloss., Clat, a clod, a sod. Cow-clat, a dried cowdung. Also a bunch of worms having worsted drawn through them for clatting (catching eels); a clot (e.g. of blood). |
2. ‘Seeds’ or pales sifted out of meal, bran.
| 1595 Duncan App. Etymol., Furfur, purgamentum farinæ, branne, clats, seids of meal. c 1720 W. Gibson Farriers Dispens. §8 (1734) 194 Bran or Clats of any kind. |
▪ II. clat, n.2 dial.
[f. clat v.1]
a. Noisy talk, tittle-tattle, clatter. b. A tattler, tale-bearer; a noisy tongue.
| 1870 E. Peacock Ralf Skirl. II. 108 Howd the clat. 1877 N. W. Lincolnsh. Gloss. (E.D.S.), Clat, a tell-tale...Ridiculous or exaggerated talk. 1879 Shropsh. Work-bk., Clat, a tattler: a tale-bearer...A contemptuous term for a woman's tongue. 1884 Cheshire Gloss., Clat, a tale-bearer. |
▪ III. clat, clate
obs. or dial. forms of cleat.
▪ IV. † clat, v.1 Obs. exc. dial.
[? short for clatter. Cf. chat, chatter.]
† 1. ? To rattle, strike noisily. Obs.
| c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. B. 839 With kene clobbez of þat clos þay clatz on þe wowez [but ? error for clatre]. |
2. To chatter, prate, tattle, ‘tell tales’.
| 1863 Atkinson Provinc. Danby, Yorksh., Clat, to talk fast, with but little meaning: to chatter or prate. 1876 Mid-Yorksh. Gloss., Clat, to prate noisily. 1879 Shropsh. Word-bk., Clat, to tattle; to propagate idle tales. 1884 Cheshire Gloss., Clat, to tell tales of a person. |
▪ V. clat, v.2 dial.
(klæt)
Also clad, clatt.
[f. clat n.1 1.]
(See quot. 1838.) So ˈclatting vbl. n.
| 1838 Holloway Dict. Provinc., To clad, or clat, to cut off the locks of wool round a sheep's tail, which are clotted together with the dung of the animal. 1844 H. Stephens Bk. Farm II. 600 In preparing ewes for lambing..the looker..removes with the shears the wool on their tail, udders, and inside of their thighs... This treatment [is] called clatting. 1884 R. L. Allen New Amer. Farm Bk. 436 Tagging or clatting is the removal of such wool as is liable to get fouled when the sheep are turned on to the fresh pastures. |
▪ VI. clat
variant of claut v., clart v.