Also 7 clanck. [This and the vb. of same form appear in 17th c. They may have been from Du., which has klank sound, clinking noise, MDu. clank, clanc, corresp. to OHG. chlanch, MHG. klanc, MLG. klank, for which mod. Ger. has only klang. But it is quite possible that the word is of native origin, produced under the joint influence of clink and clang, to express a sound intermediate to the two, which has the quality of a ‘clang,’ but is abruptly shortened like a ‘clink.’]
1. A sharp, abrupt sound, as of heavy pieces of metal (e.g., links of a heavy chain) struck together; differing from clang in ending abruptly with the effect of a knock.
1656. Cowley, Davideis, I. (1669), 7. No clanck of Chains was known.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Georg., I. 638. What Clanks were heard … Of Arms and Armies, rushing to the War.
1710. Tatler, No. 154. The noise of stripes, the clank of chains.
1795. Southey, Joan of Arc, V. 144. The clattering hammer’s clank.
1840. Dickens, Barn. Rudge, lxv. The clank of fetters … was heard no more.
1845. R. Brown, Lett., in Life (1866), 52. No constant clank of machinery.
1858. Longf., M. Standish, iv. He heard the clank of the scabbard Growing fainter and fainter … in the distance.
2. A resounding blow, heavier than a smack. Sc.
1718. Ramsay, Christ’s Kirk Gr., III. xxiii. Some ramm’d their noddles wi’ a clank E’en like a thick-scull’d lord, On posts that day.
