What's the difference between blow and clout?

Blow


Definition:

  • (v. i.) To flower; to blossom; to bloom.
  • (v. t.) To cause to blossom; to put forth (blossoms or flowers).
  • (n.) A blossom; a flower; also, a state of blossoming; a mass of blossoms.
  • (n.) A forcible stroke with the hand, fist, or some instrument, as a rod, a club, an ax, or a sword.
  • (n.) A sudden or forcible act or effort; an assault.
  • (n.) The infliction of evil; a sudden calamity; something which produces mental, physical, or financial suffering or loss (esp. when sudden); a buffet.
  • (v. i.) To produce a current of air; to move, as air, esp. to move rapidly or with power; as, the wind blows.
  • (v. i.) To send forth a forcible current of air, as from the mouth or from a pair of bellows.
  • (v. i.) To breathe hard or quick; to pant; to puff.
  • (v. i.) To sound on being blown into, as a trumpet.
  • (v. i.) To spout water, etc., from the blowholes, as a whale.
  • (v. i.) To be carried or moved by the wind; as, the dust blows in from the street.
  • (v. i.) To talk loudly; to boast; to storm.
  • (v. t.) To force a current of air upon with the mouth, or by other means; as, to blow the fire.
  • (v. t.) To drive by a current air; to impel; as, the tempest blew the ship ashore.
  • (v. t.) To cause air to pass through by the action of the mouth, or otherwise; to cause to sound, as a wind instrument; as, to blow a trumpet; to blow an organ.
  • (v. t.) To clear of contents by forcing air through; as, to blow an egg; to blow one's nose.
  • (v. t.) To burst, shatter, or destroy by an explosion; -- usually with up, down, open, or similar adverb; as, to blow up a building.
  • (v. t.) To spread by report; to publish; to disclose.
  • (v. t.) To form by inflation; to swell by injecting air; as, to blow bubbles; to blow glass.
  • (v. t.) To inflate, as with pride; to puff up.
  • (v. t.) To put out of breath; to cause to blow from fatigue; as, to blow a horse.
  • (v. t.) To deposit eggs or larvae upon, or in (meat, etc.).
  • (n.) A blowing, esp., a violent blowing of the wind; a gale; as, a heavy blow came on, and the ship put back to port.
  • (n.) The act of forcing air from the mouth, or through or from some instrument; as, to give a hard blow on a whistle or horn; to give the fire a blow with the bellows.
  • (n.) The spouting of a whale.
  • (n.) A single heat or operation of the Bessemer converter.
  • (n.) An egg, or a larva, deposited by a fly on or in flesh, or the act of depositing it.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Certainly, Saunders did not land a single blow that threatened to stop his opponent, although he took quite a few himself that threatened his titles in the final few rounds.
  • (2) The ruling centre-right coalition government of Angela Merkel was dealt a blow by voters in a critical regional election on Sunday after the centre-left opposition secured a wafer-thin victory, setting the scene for a tension-filled national election in the autumn when everything will be up for grabs.
  • (3) "The government should be doing all it can to put the UK at the forefront of this energy revolution not blowing hot and cold on the issue.
  • (4) Rapid swelling of the knee following a blow or twisting injury is considered a significant injury.
  • (5) Drainage of contrast medium from the maxillary sinus during blowing and sniffing was studied by cine-roentgenography in 11 healthy subjects.
  • (6) It would cost their own businesses hundreds of millions of pounds in transaction costs, it would blow a massive hole in their balance of payments, it would leave them having to pick up the entirety of UK debt.
  • (7) The phrase “self-inflicted blow” was one he used repeatedly, along with the word “glib” – applied to his Vote Leave opponents.
  • (8) Losing Murphy is a blow to the Oscars which has struggled to liven up its image amid a general decline in its TV ratings over the last couple of decades and a rush of awards shows that appeal to younger crowds, such as the MTV Movie Awards.
  • (9) Hagan’s defeat came as a shock and a heavy blow for the Democratic party in North Carolina, a purple state that now has no Democratic senator or governor for the first time in 30 years.
  • (10) The case of a 32-year-old man who suffered a blow to his left supraorbital region and eyebrow in an automatic closing door is reported to draw attention to the uncommon but trivial nature of this injury which may result in profound visual loss.
  • (11) It's almost starting to feel like we're back in the good old days of July 2005, when Paris lost out to London in the battle to stage the 2012 Olympic Games, a defeat immediately interpreted by France as a bitter blow to Gallic ideals of fair play and non-commercialism and yet another undeserved triumph for the underhand, free-market manoeuvrings of perfidious Albion.
  • (12) A rather pessimistic wind is blowing over cancer chemotherapy, while a not very objective enthusiasm for second generation immunotherapy is raising its head.
  • (13) The departure of Emmerson – who said in a statement that no allegations had been put to him – is a huge blow.
  • (14) On second impacts, the GSI rose considerably because the shell and liner of the DH-151 cracked and the suspension of the "141" stretched during the first blow.
  • (15) The files, which were made available to the Guardian , the New York Times and the German weekly Der Spiegel, give a blow-by-blow account of the fighting over the last six years, which has so far cost the lives of more than 320 British and more than 1,000 US troops.
  • (16) Maybe there was a wish to go for these stronger story formulations, more extreme situations to try to get the energy up to comfortably blow the lid off.” Miller pointed out to Franzen that he has developed something of a reputation as a misanthrope.
  • (17) Pure blow-out fracture or comminuted facial fracture, double vision and amnesia emerged as additional factors which yielded an efficient scoring system with a sensitivity of 89% and specificity of 90% for the population upon which it was based.
  • (18) It would strike a blow against its excessively adversarial ways of working, the two sides of a divided house braying at each other across the floor.
  • (19) However, a no show from the leader of the Commonwealth's biggest member would be a huge blow to the credibility of the organisation.
  • (20) All of which would be perfectly normal (after all, if there's anything valencianos love more than blowing off their fingers, it's complaining about their team) but for one thing: it was only just after half past nine and there was still an hour to go against hated rivals Real Madrid.

Clout


Definition:

  • (n.) A cloth; a piece of cloth or leather; a patch; a rag.
  • (n.) A swadding cloth.
  • (n.) A piece; a fragment.
  • (n.) The center of the butt at which archers shoot; -- probably once a piece of white cloth or a nail head.
  • (n.) An iron plate on an axletree or other wood to keep it from wearing; a washer.
  • (n.) A blow with the hand.
  • (n.) To cover with cloth, leather, or other material; to bandage; patch, or mend, with a clout.
  • (n.) To join or patch clumsily.
  • (n.) To quard with an iron plate, as an axletree.
  • (n.) To give a blow to; to strike.
  • (n.) To stud with nails, as a timber, or a boot sole.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Bargaining is a question of clout, and which side has more of it.
  • (2) The growing power of public sector employees allowed them to win better pay and conditions, and gave them a degree of political clout.
  • (3) Also, the sections of the public keenest on the BBC – women, younger Britons, people in the south-east of England, the wealthier ABC1 social categories – have considerable political clout.
  • (4) For a start it was a powerful coalition of organisations – which carried serious clout.
  • (5) White, backed by the financial clout of the US treasury, prevailed.
  • (6) Gallenzi, though, believes it still has the clout to stand up to Amazon.
  • (7) And that means they need to use their lobbying abilities, they need to use their commercial clout to force the government to be more responsible in whatever jurisdiction it is, in safeguarding our public interests.
  • (8) Although he is from the Pashtun ethnic group that dominates south Afghanistan , Ghani's tribe has traditionally had more clout in the east.
  • (9) King said Ryan, an influential voice on budgetary matters who was Mitt Romney’s presidential running mate in 2012, was the only person with the clout to run for speaker.
  • (10) China has far greater clout than Spain in Argentina, whose economy is heavily dependent on soya exports to the Asian giant, leading to speculation that Fernández might strike her own deal with Sinopec, effectively handing even greater control over Argentina's economy to Beijing.
  • (11) Political action committees are a means for individuals to join together so they have some clout in the political process, Symons said.
  • (12) As the Americans draw down their forces, their clout is visibly weakening.
  • (13) "Part of what has given Britain clout in the last 15 years has been that our economy has been seen to be successful, but the whole Anglo-Saxon model has taken a great knock," says Niblett.
  • (14) At the time of the handover, the then foreign secretary, Robin Cook, reiterated that Britain would use its clout to defend Hong Kong and its freedoms.
  • (15) US diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks refer to Hadi as a putative reformer, albeit one who had enjoyed little clout among Yemeni powerbrokers.
  • (16) Less than a fifth of English voters think that Scottish independence would diminish the rest of Britain's clout in the world.
  • (17) Film-makers with clout could circumvent the system, but when most directors are straight, white men making films about straight, white men, we don’t tend to get a very diverse lineup of films.” Facebook Twitter Pinterest Benedict Cumberbatch as Alan Turing in The Imitation Game.
  • (18) Patrick Connolly of IFA firm AWD Chase de Vere is more sceptical about the power of individual shareholders, but says institutional investors do have a lot of clout.
  • (19) He was credited with helping YouView get its house in order and giving it some much-needed commercial clout.
  • (20) But if and as it grows, it will give China the clout in regional financing that membership of the ADB has not allowed it to wield, in spite being a generous capital provider to it.