clou

From French clou. Doublet of clove.

• IPA^(key): /kluː/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -uː
• Homophones: clue, clew

clou (plural clous)

1. Something which holds the greatest attention; the chief point of interest.
   • 1911, Max Beerbohm, Zuleika Dobson:

     But had he not refused her the wherewithal to remember him—the pearls she needed as the clou of her dear collection, the great relic among relics?

   • 1994, Richard Abel, The Ciné Goes to Town: French Cinema, 1896-1914, page 70:

     Partly because they were constructed of multiple shot-scenes and recorded exclusively in LS, their elaborate decors acquired an even more privileged role — as tableaux and clous of spectacle — much in the manner of late nineteenth-century French stage productions […]

• ULOC

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic, Valencia) [ˈklɔw]

clou

1. inflection of cloure:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

Borrowed from French clou.

• IPA^(key): /klu/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: clou
• Rhymes: -u

clou m (plural clous)

1. punch line

• pointe

Borrowed from French clou.

• IPA^(key): /ˈkluː/, [ˈkluː]
• IPA^(key): /ˈklou̯/, [ˈklo̞u̯]
• Rhymes: -uː

clou

1. highlight (high point of an occasion, press release etc.)

• kohokohta

• “clou”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish]‎^[3] (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 2 July 2023

Inherited from Old French clou, from Latin clāvus, from Proto-Italic *klāwos, from Proto-Indo-European *kleh₂u-.

• IPA^(key): /klu/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -u

clou m (plural clous)

1. nail (metal pin)
2. clove (of garlic)
3. (figurative) highlight, climax
4. (usually in the plural, des clous) not likely, no way, you'll be so lucky

• → Dutch: clou
• → English: clou
• → Finnish: clou
• → German: Clou
• → Italian: clou
• → Polish: clou

• “clou”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Borrowed from French clou. Doublet of chiavo.

• IPA^(key): /ˈklu/^**
• Rhymes: -u

clou m (invariable)

1. (also relational) highlight (high point of an occasion)

   la mossa clou della partita ― the standout move of the match

• culo, luco

• clow

From Classical Gaelic clobh, clobhadh,^[1] from Middle Irish cloba,^[2] from Old Norse klof (“fissure”)^[3] and/or klofi (“fork in a river”),^[4] from the root of Old Norse *kleubaną (“to split, cleave”). Cognate with Irish tlú and Scottish Gaelic clobha.

• IPA^(key): /klau/

clou m (genitive singular clou, plural cloughyn)

1. tongs

clou

1. alternative form of clough

Unadapted borrowing from French clou.

• IPA^(key): /ˈklu/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -u
• Syllabification: clou

clou n (indeclinable)

1. clou (something which holds the greatest attention; the chief point of interest)

• clou in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Borrowed from French clou.

clou n (plural clou-uri)

1. highlight, climax of a show

• (North Wales) IPA^(key): /klɔɨ̯/
• (South Wales) IPA^(key): /klɔi̯/

clou (feminine singular clou, plural clou, equative cloued, comparative clouach, superlative clouaf)

1. (South Wales) fast, quick

• cyflym