A blow or strike, especially with a weapon or the fist; a hit or impact.
From Old French 'cloue' (past participle of 'clore,' to close or strike), possibly related to Latin 'clavus' (nail). This word traveled from French into Middle English through Norman influence in the 12th century.
This is an archaic French-descended word that illustrates the massive Norman French vocabulary layer in English after 1066—most of our words for violence and nobility came from the French-speaking conquerors, which is why 'beef' is French ('boeuf') but 'cow' is Anglo-Saxon, revealing class divisions in meat-eating!
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