clip|ping /kl I p I ŋ/ (clippings )
1 N‑COUNT [oft n N ] A clipping is an article, picture, or advertisement that has been cut from a newspaper or magazine. □ …bulletin boards crowded with newspaper clippings.
2 N‑COUNT [usu pl, oft n N ] Clippings are small pieces of something that have been cut from something larger. □ Having mown the lawn, there are all those grass clippings to get rid of. □ …nail clippings.
clique /kliː k/ (cliques ) N‑COUNT If you describe a group of people as a clique , you mean that they spend a lot of time together and seem unfriendly towards people who are not in the group. [DISAPPROVAL ]
cli|quey /kliː ki/ in AM, usually use cliquish ADJ If you describe a group of people or their behaviour as cliquey , you mean they spend their time only with other members of the group and seem unfriendly towards people who are not in the group. [DISAPPROVAL ] □ …cliquey gossip.
clito|ral /kl I tərəl/ ADJ [ADJ n] Clitoral means concerned with or relating to the clitoris. □ …clitoral stimulation.
clito|ris /kl I tər I s/ (clitorises ) N‑COUNT The clitoris is a part at the front of a woman's sexual organs where she can feel sexual pleasure.
Cllr. N‑TITLE Cllr. is a written abbreviation for councillor . [BRIT ] □ …Cllr. Ned Dewitt.
cloak /kloʊ k/ (cloaks , cloaking , cloaked )
1 N‑COUNT A cloak is a long, loose, sleeveless piece of clothing which people used to wear over their other clothes when they went out.
2 N‑SING A cloak of something such as mist or snow completely covers and hides something. □ [+ of ] Today most of England will be under a cloak of thick mist.
3 N‑SING If you refer to something as a cloak , you mean that it is intended to hide the truth about something. □ [+ of ] Preparations for the wedding were made under a cloak of secrecy.
4 VERB To cloak something means to cover it or hide it. [WRITTEN ] □ [V n + in ] …the decision to cloak major tourist attractions in unsightly hoardings. □ [V -ed + in ] The beautiful sweeping coastline was cloaked in mist.
cloa k-and-da gger also cloak and dagger ADJ [usu ADJ n] A cloak-and-dagger activity is one which involves mystery and secrecy. □ She was released from prison in a cloak-and-dagger operation yesterday.
cloak|room /kloʊ kruːm/ (cloakrooms )
1 N‑COUNT In a public building, the cloakroom is the place where people can leave their coats, umbrellas, and so on. □ …a cloakroom attendant.
2 N‑COUNT A cloakroom is a room containing toilets in a public building or a room containing a toilet on the ground floor of someone's house. [BRIT ]
clob|ber /klɒ bə r / (clobbers , clobbering , clobbered )
1 N‑UNCOUNT You can refer to someone's possessions, especially their clothes, as their clobber . [BRIT , INFORMAL ]
2 VERB If you clobber someone, you hit them. [INFORMAL ] □ [V n] Hillary clobbered him with a vase.
cloche /klɒ ʃ/ (cloches ) N‑COUNT A cloche is a long, low cover made of glass or clear plastic that is put over young plants to protect them from the cold.
clock ◆◇◇ /klɒ k/ (clocks , clocking , clocked )
1 N‑COUNT A clock is an instrument, for example in a room or on the outside of a building, that shows what time of day it is. □ He was conscious of a clock ticking. □ He also repairs clocks and watches. □ …a digital clock.
2 N‑COUNT [oft n N ] A time clock in a factory or office is a device that is used to record the hours that people work. Each worker puts a special card into the device when they arrive and leave, and the times are recorded on the card. □ Government workers were made to punch time clocks morning, noon and night.
3 N‑COUNT [usu sing] In a car, the clock is the instrument that shows the speed of the car or the distance it has travelled. [mainly BRIT ] □ The car had 160,000 miles on the clock.
4 VERB To clock a particular time or speed in a race means to reach that time or speed. □ [V n] Elliott clocked the fastest time this year for the 800 metres.
5 VERB [usu passive] If something or someone is clocked at a particular time or speed, their time or speed is measured at that level. □ [be V -ed + at ] He has been clocked at 11 seconds for 100 metres.
6 → see also alarm clock , biological clock , body clock , cuckoo clock , grandfather clock , o'clock
7 PHRASE If you are doing something against the clock , you are doing it in a great hurry, because there is very little time. □ The emergency services were working against the clock as the tide began to rise. □ It's now become a race against the clock.
8 PHRASE If something is done round the clock or around the clock , it is done all day and all night without stopping. □ Rescue services have been working round the clock to free stranded motorists.
9 PHRASE If you want to turn the clock back or put the clock back , you want to return to a situation that used to exist, usually because the present situation is unpleasant. □ In some ways we wish we could turn the clock back. □ We cannot put back the clock.
▸ clock in PHRASAL VERB When you clock in at work, you arrive there or put a special card into a device to show what time you arrived. □ [V P ] I have to clock in by eight.