Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- To cling; adhere.
- noun A name of various insects which are troublesome to horses and cattle from their blood-sucking habits, as the great horsefly or breeze, Tabanus bovinus, also called the gadfly; the Chrysops cæcutiens (see
Chrysops ); and, in Scotland, the Hæmatopota pluvialis, a smaller grayish-colored fly. - noun A clever person.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Zoöl.), North of Eng. & Scot. A small breeze or horsefly.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun now dialectal A light breeze.
- noun Scotland A
gadfly ; ahorsefly .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun large swift fly the female of which sucks blood of various animals
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
From Old Norse kleggi.
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Examples
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(as chickens); _cleg_, a horse-fly; _coup_, to exchange, to barter;
English Dialects From the Eighth Century to the Present Day 1873
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"He's maist michty unsettled like," replied Saunders, "he's for a 'the world like a stirk wi' a horse cleg on him that he canna get at.
The Lilac Sunbonnet 1887
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Being told that the cleg, or horse-fly, would suit his purpose admirably for lure, he addressed himself to Christy, the Highland servant-girl: ” “I say, my girl, can you get me some horse-flies?”
Reminiscences of Scottish Life and Character Ramsay, Edward B 1874
yarb commented on the word cleg
Sussuration of rushes,
deck-chair poised at the weir edge,
strepitumque Avon avari.
Valetudinarian gent,
kitted as for a safari
in pith helmet and white ducks,
has sat unmoving for four hours.
A cleg enters him by the nose.
Evening; chromatic thrushes,
territorial blackbirds' clucks,
purring from fumous wallflowers
and lilac, discordantly rent.
St John's men raise him from dank sedge,
stiff, still in a sitting pose.
- Peter Reading, A Departure, from Tom O' Bedlam's Beauties, 1981
June 29, 2008
knitandpurl commented on the word cleg
"Plodding along between high banks of lacy cow parsley, the mare shook her head just once as a hungry cleg found its way into the velvety coolness of her ear."
--The Winner of Sorrow by Brian Lynch, p 87
July 12, 2009
110211 commented on the word cleg
Ilegal in Words with Friends. How rude!
July 25, 2011