Meaning

(Northern England, US) A narrow valley; a cleft in a hillside; a ravine, glen, or gorge..

Definitions by Sense

1. (Northern England, US) A narrow valley; a cleft in a hillside; a ravine, glen, or gorge.
2. A sluice used in returning water to a channel after depositing its sediment on the flooded land.
3. (dialectal) The cleft or fork of a tree; crotch.
4. (dialectal) A wood; weald.
5. (historical) Alternative form of cloff (“allowance of two pounds in every three hundredweight”).

Example Sentences

The day-sky glimmered on the dew[…] And lurked in heath and braken clough

These beds form no good escarpments southward of the clough; but they appear to be higher than the corresponding beds on the opposite side; there would thus seem to be a fault in the valley downthrowing on the west, but it is quite hidden by débris.

The features of a clough fall well in with a Teutonic idea that Thor, their thunder-god, had smitten these places when in fits of fury and made the deep gashes in the hillsides.

Now we've sorted that out, the easiest way is up the clough and along the bridleway.

I have, accordingly, estimated the depth of drain at the lower end to be 1 foot 6 inches deeper than the fill of the clough, and given it a progressive rise to suit with 5 feet depth below the surface at its head.

When the spring tide begins to ebb, the flood gate is opened to admit the tide, the clough having been previously shut by the weight of water brouht up the river by the flow of the tide. As the tide ebbs down the river, the weight or pressure of water being taken from the outside of the clough next the river, the tide water that has been previously admitted by the flood gate opens the clough again, and discharges itself slowly but completely through it.

For a view of a clough, see Mr. Young's Northern Tour, Vol. I. Plate III. p. 212. the floodgates and sluices for letting in the water are like the common sluices and gates in canals for raising the water to assist the passage of boats; sometimes also the flood-gates or sluices are placed above the clough perpendicularly.

These entries are, in my opinion, inconsistent with the view that the plaintiff's predecessors were the owners of the clough or were entitled to use it as of right subject only ( if at all ) to mere regulations as to user by the commissioners, or with any view except that the plaintiff's predecessors is using the clough did so under a revocable licence.

Word Forms

• cloughs
• cleugh
• cleuch

Related Words

When Should You Use Clough?

Use clough when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.

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