Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)
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First published 1952 (SND Vol. III).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.
Quotation dates: 1827, 1880-1929
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CLUIF, CLIV, Cloof, Cluf, Kliv, Klov, Clow, Klow, Clive, n. [kluf Sc.; klɪv I.Sc. + klɔv, klʌv, Cai. + klaɪv; klyf em.Sc.]
1. A hoof (orig. the hoof of a cloven-footed animal). Jam. (1808) s.v. cluf says: "now pronounced clu, n.Sc." The most common form in I.Sc. and Cai. is cliv, and dim. clivvik. Jak. gives kliv and klivek, as well as klov and (rarer) kløv. Clive is heard in the Canisbay district of Cai. (Cai.7 1936).Sh.(D) 1891 J. J. H. Burgess Rasmie's Büddie 10:
For a wharter-a-oor ye'd a no heard a soond Bit da crackin o' shairs, and da clump o a clug, Da scrit o a cliv, and da yalp o da dug.Ork.(D) 1880 Dennison Orcad. Sk. Bk. 115:
Aye, bae me sinfu'! there's his clow; O' hid's the muckle Mester Trow!Cai. 1929 "Caithness Forum" in John o' Groat Jnl. (1 Nov.):
He'll just gie her cliv twa-three strakes on'e corner o' 'e gless hoose.Fif. 1827 W. Tennant Papistry Storm'd 61:
The stour That his ain horse-cluifs . . . Up in his face hae dash'd.
†2. "A claw" (Sc. 1808 Jam., cloof, cluf).
3. "Jocularly or esp. mockingly . . . applied to the foot of a human being" (Sh. 1908 Jak. (1928), klov), or the hand (Cai.9 1938).Sh.(D) 1891 J. J. H. Burgess Rasmie's Büddie 2:
Bit güd feth! da but-end wisna ill ta be seen, So I sings oot, "Come in, an your clivviks be clean!"Ork. 1929 Marw.:
Bare klows = bare feet.Ork. 1929 Marw.:
"Fae the klov an' up," = from top to toe.
4. Comb.: klow-sheer, "an ear-mark on sheep. Evid. a cut made to resemble a 'sheer' or cleft in a hoof" (Ork. 1929 Marw.).
[O.Sc. clufe, cluif (for earlier clōf), from c.1500–c.1512, a cloven hoof, a paw; also pl. clovis, cluis (D.O.S.T.). O.N. klauf, cloven foot; cogn. Dan. klov, older kløv, Sw. klöf, Mod.Norw. klauv, id. (Falk and Torp). The I.Sc. and Cai. form [klɪv] shows unrounding of the mutated vowel. O.N. f is often dropped finally in Ork. Norn (see Marw. xlv.).]
