Other forms: clouts
Clout is influence, or a heavy blow. Political clout, carry some clout, a clout round the ear.
The influence sense is now the commoner and is always about real power to make things happen rather than mere standing. The blow sense is British and informal. The word first meant a patch of cloth, and how it came to mean a blow is not clear.
1nouncloutInfluence, or a heavy blow.
“His mother gave him a clout round the ear for being rude.”
clout is an influence, or a blow.
Old English clut meant a patch of cloth or a metal plate. The senses of a blow and of influence came later.
Proto-Indo-European
*gel-
Proto-Indo-European
*gelewdos
Proto-Germanic
*klūtaz
Proto-West Germanic
*klūt
Old English
clūt — piece of cloth, patch; metal plate
Middle English
clout — piece of cloth
English, today
clout
From Middle English clout (“piece of cloth”), from Old English clūt (“piece of cloth, patch; metal plate”), from Proto-West Germanic klūt, from Proto-Germanic klūtaz, from Proto-Indo-European gelewdos, from Proto-Indo-European gel- (“to ball up, amass”). The influence sense originated in the dialect of Chicago, but has become widespread. Cognate with Old Norse klútr (“kerchief”), Swedish klut, Danish klud, Middle High German klōz (“lump”), whence German Kloß (“clump”), and dialectal Russian глуда. See also cleat#etymology.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA