Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Clog

Clog (klŏg), n. [OE. clogge clog, Scot. clag, n., a clot, v., to to obstruct, cover with mud or anything adhesive; prob. of the same origin as E. clay.] 1. That which hinders or impedes motion; hence, an encumbrance, restraint, or impediment, of any kind.

All the ancient, honest, juridical principles and institutions of England are so many clogs to check and retard the headlong course of violence and opression. Burke.

2. A weight, as a log or block of wood, attached to a man or an animal to hinder motion.

As a dog . . . but chance breaks loose, And quits his clog. Hudibras.

A clog of lead was round my feet. Tennyson.

3. A shoe, or sandal, intended to protect the feet from wet, or to increase the apparent stature, and having, therefore, a very thick sole. Cf. Chopine.

In France the peasantry goes barefoot; and the middle sort . . . makes use of wooden clogs. Harvey.

Clog almanac, a primitive kind of almanac or calendar, formerly used in England, made by cutting notches and figures on the four edges of a clog, or square piece of wood, brass, or bone; — called also a Runic staff, from the Runic characters used in the numerical notation. — Clog dance, a dance performed by a person wearing clogs, or thick-soled shoes. — Clog dancer.

Clog, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Clogged; p. pr. & vb. n. Clogging.] 1. To encumber or load, especially with something that impedes motion; to hamper.

The winds of birds were clogged with ace and snow. Dryden.

2. To obstruct so as to hinder motion in or through; to choke up; as, to clog a tube or a channel.

3. To burden; to trammel; to embarrass; to perplex.

The commodities are clogged with impositions. Addison.

You 'll rue the time That clogs me with this answer. Shak.

Syn. — Impede; hinder; obstruct; embarrass; burden; restrain; restrict.

Clog, v. i. 1. To become clogged; to become loaded or encumbered, as with extraneous matter.

In working through the bone, the teeth of the saw will begin to clog. S. Sharp.

2. To coalesce or adhere; to unite in a mass.

Move it sometimes with a broom, that the seeds clog not together. Evelyn.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty.