CLE 



230 



CLI 



:lava, a club, and cornu, a horn ;- club 

 horned, the antennae being always 

 thickei at the extremity, and often club- 

 shaped. 



CLAWS (Lat.), a nail. An excrescence 

 from the grains of rye. Also a parasitical 

 fungus, termed spermcedia clavtu. Also a 

 severe pain in the forehead like the driv- 

 ing of a nail. 



CLAW or Uuetns, the narrow part at 

 the base of a petal, which takes the place 

 of the foot-stalk of a leaf. 



CLAY, a name common to all unctuous 

 tenacious earths. The common clays ge- 

 nerally consist of about equal parts of alu- 

 mina and silica, with various impurities. 

 Pure clay is alumina (q.v.). Potters' 

 clay consists of about equal parts of alu- 

 mina and silica, with a small addition of 

 lime. Loam is an impure potters' clay. 

 Kaolin or porcelain clay is formed by the 

 disintegration of the felspar of granitfe. 

 Clays are often named according to their 

 colours, which they generally owe to a 

 slight admixture of some metallic oxide. 



CLAYES, plu., from Fr. elate, a hurdle; 

 a sort of fortification, consisting of wattles 

 or hurdles made with stakes interwoven 

 with osiers to cover lodgments. 



CLAY'iNG,the operation of puddling. 



CLAY'SLATE, argillaceous schist ; the ar- 

 gillite of Kirwan. It is an indurate clay 

 common to the fossiliferous and metamor- 

 phic series. Usual colours, bluish-grey 

 and greyish -black, of various shades. 

 Constituents, silica about 50 per cent. ; 

 alumina 25 ; magnesia 10 or 12, with some 

 metallic oxides, potash, sulphur, and car- 

 bon. It occurs in great beds, and is ex- 

 tensively quarried for roofing and other 

 purposes. 



CLAY'STONE, an earthy stone resembling 

 indurated clay. It is a variety of pris- 

 matic felspar. 



CLEAR. 1. To dear a ship at the Cus- 

 tom-Hmvse is to exhibit the documents re- 

 quired by law, give bonds to perform 

 other acts requisite, and procure a com- 

 mission to sail. 2. To clear the land is, 



in nautical language, to gain such a dis- 

 tance from shore as to have plenty of sea- 

 room. 3. To clear a ship for action is to 



remove all incumbrances and prepare for 

 an engagement. 



CLEAR'ANCE, a certificate that a ship 

 has been cleared at the custom-house. 



CLEAR'ISG, among Londc"t bankers, a 

 method adopted for exchanging the drafts 

 of each other's houses. Thus at half-past 

 3 o'clock, a clerk from eacn banker at- 

 tends at the clear ing -house, where he 

 brings all the drafts on tl other bankers 

 which have been paid into his house that 

 day, and deposits them in their proper 

 draws, (a draw being allotted to each 

 banker) ; he then credits their accounts 

 separately with the articles which they 



have against him, as found in hi draw. 

 Balances arc then struck from nil the ac- 

 counts, and the claims transferred from 

 one to another, until they are so wound 

 up and cancelled, that each clerk has 

 only to settle with two or three others, 

 and their balances are immediately 

 paid. 



C'LKKT, from xltfyey, a fastener; a 

 piece of wood tised in a ship to fasten 

 ropes upon. Cleats are of different shapes ; 

 some have one arm, some two, or are 

 simply hollow in the middle to receive 

 a rope, and are called belaying-cleats, a 

 deck-cleat, and a thumb-cleat. 



CLEAV'AGE, a term applied to the me- 

 chanical division of crystals, by showing 

 thi' direction in which their lamina can 

 separate. It enables us to determine, the 

 faces of cleavage being constant, the mu- 

 tual inclination of these lamina;, and con- 

 sequently the primitive crystalline form 

 of the mineral. 



CLECHE. In heraldry, a kind of cross, 

 charged with another cross of the same 

 figure, but of the colour of the field. 



CLEDGE. In mining, the upper stratum 

 of fullers' earth. 



CLEF. In music, a character placed at 

 the beginning of a stave to determine the 

 degree of elevation occupied by that 

 stave in the system, and to point out the 

 names of all the notes contained in the 

 line of the clef. 



CLEFT-GRAFT, a graft made by cleaving 

 the stock, and inserting the cion. 



CLEM A'TIS, a genus of plants. Polijmt- 

 dria Polygynia. Virgin's Bower. Bri- 

 tish type, "Traveller's Joy (C. vitalba) 

 Name from X]tfca> a tendril 



CLEPSY'DRA, from xfo-^uJiect (from 

 xllvrca, to hide, and v$af, water). An 

 instrument used by the ancients to moa 

 sure time, by the dropping of water 

 :hrough a hole from one vessel to ano- 

 ther ; also a chemical vessel perforated in 

 the same manner. 



CLEV'Y, the draught-iron of a plough , &c. 



CLEW. In nautical language, the lower 

 corner of a square-sail, and the aftmost 

 corner of a stay-sail. 



CLEW-GARNETS, a sort of tackle of rope 

 and pulley fastened to the clews of the 

 main and fore-sails of a ship, to truss 

 them up to the yard. 



CLEW-LINES, a tackle similar to the clew- 

 garnets, but applied to the smaller square- 

 sails. 



CLICKS, small pieces of iron falling into 

 a notched wheel, attached to the wincher 

 n cutters, &c., and thereby serving tie 

 office of pawls. 



C'LI'EHT, from cliens. Anciently, one 



ho put himself under the protection of a 



an of distinction, who became hia 

 patron: at present, one who pats 1 



