Clog (?), n. [OE. clogge clog, Scot. clag, n., a clot, v., to to obstruct, cover with mud or anything adhesive; prob. of the same origin as E. clay.] 1. That which hinders or impedes motion; hence, an encumbrance, restraint, or impediment, of any kind.
All the ancient, honest, juridical principles and institutions of England are so many clogs to check and retard the headlong course of violence and opression.
Burke.
2. A weight, as a log or block of wood, attached to a man or an animal to hinder motion.
As a dog . . . but chance breaks loose,
And quits his clog.
Hudibras.
A clog of lead was round my feet.
Tennyson.
3. A shoe, or sandal, intended to protect the feet from wet, or to increase the apparent stature, and having, therefore, a very thick sole. Cf. Chopine.
In France the peasantry goes barefoot; and the middle sort . . . makes use of wooden clogs.
Harvey.
Clog almanac, a primitive kind of almanac or calendar, formerly used in England, made by cutting notches and figures on the four edges of a clog, or square piece of wood, brass, or bone; -- called also a Runic staff, from the Runic characters used in the numerical notation. -- Clog dance, a dance performed by a person wearing clogs, or thick-soled shoes. -- Clog dancer.
© Webster 1913.
Clog, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Clogged (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Clogging.] 1. To encumber or load, especially with something that impedes motion; to hamper.
The winds of birds were clogged with ace and snow.
Dryden.
2. To obstruct so as to hinder motion in or through; to choke up; as, to clog a tube or a channel.
3. To burden; to trammel; to embarrass; to perplex.
The commodities are clogged with impositions.
Addison.
You 'll rue the time
That clogs me with this answer.
Shak.
Syn. -- Impede; hinder; obstruct; embarrass; burden; restrain; restrict.
© Webster 1913.
Clog, v. i. 1. To become clogged; to become loaded or encumbered, as with extraneous matter.
In working through the bone, the teeth of the saw will begin to clog.
S. Sharp.
2. To coalesce or adhere; to unite in a mass.
Move it sometimes with a broom, that the seeds clog not together.
Evelyn.
© Webster 1913. | 
