642 C L A 
pan fea, two miles diftant; and from New York city, 
twenty-nine miles. By the ftate cenfus of 1796, 224 of 
its inhabitants are ele&ors. 
CL ARKS'V 1 LLE, the chief town of what was till lately 
called Tennelfee county, in the ltate of TennelTee, be¬ 
longing to the American States, pleafantly (ituated on the 
ealt bank of Cumberland river, and at the mouth of Red 
River. It contains a court-houfe and jail: forty-five miles 
north wed of Nafhville, 220 north-wed by wed of Knox¬ 
ville, and 940 wefc by foutli of Philadelphia. Lat. 37. 2. N. 
Ion. 87. 4.5. W. Greenwich. 
CLARKS'VILLE, a fmall fettlement of the American 
States in the north-weft territory. It is fituated on the 
northern bank of the Ohio, oppofite Louifville, a mile be¬ 
low the Rapids, and 100 miles fouth-eaft of Poll Vincent. 
CLAR'THY, a river of Wales, in the county of Car¬ 
digan, which joins the Clarwen, at the north-weft extre¬ 
mity of the county of Brecknock. 
CLA'RUS, in ancient geography, a town of Ionia, fa¬ 
mous for an oracle of Apollo. It was built by Manto, 
daughter of Tirelias, who fled from Thebes, after it had 
been deftroyed by the Epigoni. She was fo afilidted with 
her misfortunes, that a lake was formed with her tears, 
where the firft founded the oracle. Apollo was from 
thence furnamed Clarius. Ovid .—An ifland of the iEgean, 
between Tenedos and Scios. Thucydides. 
CLAR'WEN, a river of Wales, which runs into the 
Wye, near Rhyader Gawy. 
CLA'RY,/. in botany. See Salvia. 
To CLASH, <v.n. \kletfen, Dut. to make a noife] To 
make a noife by mutual colliflon; to ftrike one againft 
another: 
Three times, as of the clajhing found 
Of arms, we heard. Denham. 
To a <51 with oppofite power, or contrary direction.—Nei¬ 
ther was there any queen-mother who might clajh with 
his counfellors for authority. Bacon. —To contradift; to 
oppofe.—The abfurdity in this inftance is obvious; and 
yet every time that clajhing metaphors are put together, 
this fault is committed. Spefiator. 
To CLASH, v. a. To ftrike one thing againft another, 
fo as to produce a noife: 
The nodding ftatue clajh'd his arms, 
And with a fullen found, and feeble cry, 
Half funk, and half pronounc’d the word of vidfory. 
Dry den. 
CLASH,/. A noify colliflon of two bodies : 
He nobly feiz’d thee in the dire alarms 
Of war and (laughter, and the clajh of arms. Pope. 
Cppofition ; contradiction: 
Then from the clajhes between popes and kings, 
Debate, like fparks from flint’s colliflon, fprings. Dcnh. 
CLAS'MIUM,/. A trivial name of a genus of foflils, 
of the clafs of the gyplums. See Mineralogy. 
CLASP,/ [ chejpe , Dut.] A hook to hold any thing 
dole ; as a book, or garment; 
The fccrpion’s claws here grafp a wide extent, 
And here the crab’s in lefler clajps are bent. Addijon. 
An embrace, in contempt: 
Your fair daughter, 
Tranfported with no worfe nor better guard. 
But with a knave of hire, a gondolier, 
To the grofs clafps of a lafcivious Moor. Shahefpeare. 
To CLASP, v. a. To (hut with a clafp.—Sermons are 
the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and do open the 
fcriptures ; which being but read, remain, in comparifon, 
(till clafped. Hooker. 
There Caxton flept, with Wynkin at his fide ; 
One clajp'd in wood, and one in ltrong cow hide. Pope. 
C L A 
To catch and hold by twining.—Dired the clajping ivy 
where to climb. Milton. —To hold with the hands ex¬ 
tended; toinclofe between the hands.—Occafion turneth 
the handle of the bottle firft to be received; and after 
the belly, which is hard to clajp. Bacon. —To embrace; 
Now, now he clafps her to his panting bread; 
Now he devours her with his eager eyes. Smith. 
To indole: 
Boys, with womens" voices, 
Strive to (peak big, and clafp their female joints 
In ltiff unweil'dy arms againft thy crown. Shakefpcare . 
CLASP'ER, /. The tendrils or threads of creeping . 
plants, by which they cling to other things for lupport.—• 
The tendrils or clafpers of plants are given only to fuch 
fpecies as have weak and infirm (talks. Ray. 
CLASP'KNIFE,/. A knife which folds into the handle. 
CLASS,/ [from claffis, Lat.] A rank or order of per- 
foils.—Segrais has diitinguifhed the readers of poetry, ac¬ 
cording to their capacity of judging, into three clajfes. 
Dryden. —A number of boys learning the fame lefl’on at 
the fchool.—We (hall be feized away from this lower clafs 
in the fchool of knowledge, and our converfation (hall be 
with angels and illuminated fpirits. Watts. —A let of be¬ 
ings or things; a number ranged in diftribution, under 
fome common denomination 1 
Whate’er of mongrel, no one clafs admits 
A wit with dunces, and a dunce with wits. Pope. 
In extenfive libraries, it means the divifions or compart¬ 
ments into which the different books of fcience, liiltory, 
divinity, &c. are divided or arranged. 
To CLASS, v. a. To range according to fome dated 
method of diftribution; to range according to different 
ranks.—I conlidered that, by the clajfing and methodizing 
fuch paflages, I might inttrudf the reader. Arbutbnot. 
CLAS'SENDORF, a town of Bohemia, in the circle of 
Leitmeritz : five miles north of Kamnitz. 
CLAS'SIC, or CLAS'SICAL, adj. \_clajficus, Lat.] Re- 
lating to antique authors ; relating to literature : 
Poetic fields encompafs me around, 
And ftill I feem to tread on claffic ground. Addifon. 
Of the firft order or rank.—From this ftandard the value 
of the Roman weights and coins are deduced : in the fet¬ 
tling of which I have followed Mr. Greaves, who may be 
jultly reckoned a clajfical author on this fubjedl. Arbuth. 
CLAS'SIC, / [clajjicas, Lat.] An author of the firft 
rank : ufually taken for ancient authors.—The daffies of 
an age that heard of none. Pope. 
CLAS'SIS,/ [Lat.] Order; fort; body.—He had de¬ 
clared his opinion of that claffis of men, and did all lie 
could to hinder their growth. Clarendon. 
CLATHROI'DES and CLATHROIDAS'TRUM,/ in 
botany. See Clathrus. 
CLA'THRUS, /. in botany, a genus of fungi, infti- 
tuted by Micheli. Roundifh, confiding of a reticular, 
windowed, hollow body; the ramifications connected on 
every fide. There are only four fpecies recited by Lin¬ 
naeus; Hudlon has eight fpecies; feven fpecies are figured 
by Bolton. In Dr. Withering’s Botanical Arrangement, 
the name trichia is adopted from Haller; and he has eleven 
fpecies, comprehending fome of Linnseus’s mucors, the 
fphserocarpus of Bulliard, and,the lycoperdon rufum of 
Dickfon. 
The effential chara£ler there given is, that it grows in 
clufters, moftly fixed to a membranaceous bafe. Capfules 
globular or oblong; feeds efcaping from its whole fur- 
face through openings made by the reparations of the fi¬ 
bres. They are found chiefly on rotten wood. 
A very curious delcription of the fear let clathrus, is 
given in a letter of Mr. Thomas Flintoff, of Gain (borough, 
of which the following is an extradf: “ I have incloleu a 
fpecimen of a wonderful little plant. The ftalk is about 
a line 
