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 plow.)
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. Miss 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. Sea-men, 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, Moby-Dick, xxxv. 171. The people of that island erected lofty spars along the sea-coast, to which the look-outs ascended by means of nailed cleats.
1878. W. J. J. 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 (1784), Cleats,… pieces of wood of different shapes, used occasionally 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. Sir 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), 197. 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. A. 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. & Durham, 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. H. Green, Coal, i. 17. One of the faces called the ‘bord’ or ‘cleat’ is very marked.
