Sc. and north. dial. Also clute. [Of obscure etymology, the early history being wanting: prob. a deriv. of ON. kló, or OTeut. type *klôw(a) claw. (Cf. Du. klauwtje little claw.)]
1. One of the divisions of the hoof, in the ox, sheep, swine, etc.; also, loosely, the hoof as a whole. To take their cloots: (of cattle) ‘to run off’ (Jam.).
1725. Ramsay, Gentl. Sheph., I. i. Sax guid fat lambs I sald them ilka clute.
1781. Burns, Death Poor Mailie, 3. Upon her cloot she coost a hitch.
1788. Picken, Poems, 65 (Jam.). Wha kens but what the bits o’ brutes … hae taen their clutes An’ gane ilk livan ane a’ packin’.
1820. Scott, Monast., iii. ‘The thieves, the harrying thieves! not a cloot left of the hail hirsel!’
1844. W. H. Maxwell, Sports & Adv. Scotl., xvi. (1853), 149. Carcasses—skins and cloots included.
2. pl. Cloots: a name for the Devil. (Cf. CLOOTIE.)
1787. Burns, Addr. Deil, xx. An’ now, auld Cloots.
1858. M. Porteous, Souter Johnny, 28. A sight that gart Auld Cloots grow fain.
