clog

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   To block something, or to become blocked.

   Fallen leaves clog the drains every autumn.

2. 2
   noun

   A blockage that stops something from flowing.

   The plumber cleared the clog from the kitchen drain.

3. 3
   noun

   A shoe with a thick, often wooden sole.

   Traditional Dutch clogs are carved from wood.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Clog originally meant a block of wood, especially one attached to an animal’s leg or neck to restrict its movement. It soon also denoted a wooden-soled shoe, probably at first referring only to the thick sole. The late Middle English verb meant to hamper by attaching such a block, and by the late 16th century it had developed the broader sense of obstructing passage.

Unknown; perhaps from Middle English clog (“weight attached to the leg of an animal to impede movement”). Perhaps of North Germanic origin and derived from Proto-Germanic *klumpô (“lump, mass, clasp”); compare Old Norse klugu, klogo (“knotty tree log”), Dutch klomp.

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• Cambridge Dictionary
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