cloche

English

Vilma Bánky wearing a cloche hat, 1927

Etymology

Borrowed from French cloche (“bell”), from Medieval Latin clocca (“bell”). Doublet of cloak and clock.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /klɒʃ/, /kloʊʃ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒʃ, -əʊʃ

Noun

cloche (plural cloches)

1. A glass covering, originally bell-shaped, for garden plants to prevent frost damage and promote early growth.
   • 2023, Eleanor Catton, Birnam Wood, page 21:

     Old window screens were shade cloth; flattened cardboard and carpet offcuts were weed matting; plastic bottles, when sliced in half, became little cloches to fit over seedlings to keep them warm.

2. A bell-shaped, close-fitting women’s hat with a deep rounded crown and narrow rim.

   Synonym: cloche hat

   • 2011 October 3, Wayne Curtis, “From Tiki to Tacky—and Back”, in The Atlantic‎^[1]:

     Faux 19th-century bartenders in sleeve garters and baroque facial hair ply their trade in pre-Prohibition bars. Women wearing cloche hats order sidecars at speakeasies.

3. A tableware cover, often resembling a bell.
4. (aviation, historical) An apparatus used in controlling certain aeroplanes, consisting principally of a steering column mounted with a universal joint at the base, which is bell-shaped and has attached to it the cables for controlling the wing-warping devices, elevator planes, etc.

Translations

glass covering

• Esperanto: kloŝo
• Finnish: suojakupu
• German: Glasschutz m, Folienschutz m
• Irish: clóis f
• Polish: klosz (pl) m
• Spanish: campana de cristal f

women's hat

• Afrikaans: klokhoed
• Bulgarian: ^{(please verify)} клоше (kloše)
• Finnish: kellohattu
• French: cloche (fr) f
• German: Topfhut m
• Italian: ^{(please verify)} cloche (it)
• Japanese: クローシェ (kurōshe)
• Russian: клош (ru) m (kloš)
• Spanish: ^{(please verify)} sombrero de campana
• Swedish: klockhatt (sv) c

tableware covering

• Esperanto: kloŝo
• French: cloche (fr)
• German: Glosche
• Italian: please add this translation if you can
• Japanese: クロッシュ (kurosshu)
• Spanish: cubreplatos, campana (es)

Franco-Provençal

Noun

cloche (Old Fribourgeois)

1. Alternative form of clloche (“bell”)

References

• Walther von Wartburg (1928–2002) “clocca”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, volume 2: C Q K, page 790

French

Etymology

From Medieval Latin clocca, from Proto-Celtic *klokkos (see also Welsh cloch, Old Irish cloc), ultimately imitative. Related to Old English clucge, Low German Klock (“bell, clock”), German Glocke, Swedish klocka.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /klɔʃ/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

cloche f (plural cloches)

1. bell (metal apparatus used to produce sound)
2. a glass covering, originally bell-shaped, for garden plants to prevent frost damage and promote early growth
3. a bell-shaped, close-fitting women’s hat with a deep rounded crown and narrow rim
4. a tableware cover, often resembling a bell
5. (colloquial) a clumsy person, an oaf

Derived terms

• cloche de plongée
• déménager à la cloche de bois
• sauvé par la cloche
• se taper la cloche
• son de cloche

Adjective

cloche (plural cloches)

1. (colloquial) clumsy, stupid

   Synonyms: maladroit, lourdaud, empoté, manche

Derived terms

• à cloche-pied

Verb

cloche

1. inflection of clocher:
   1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
   2. second-person singular imperative

Further reading

• “cloche”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Italian

Etymology 1

Borrowed from English clutch.

Noun

cloche f (invariable)

1. joystick
2. gear lever (in a car)

Etymology 2

Borrowed from French cloche (“bell”).

Noun

cloche f (invariable)

1. cloche hat

Middle English

Noun

cloche

1. Alternative form of cloke (“claw”)

Middle French

Etymology

Medieval Latin clocca

Noun

cloche f (plural cloches)

1. bell (metal apparatus used to produce sound)

Old French

Etymology

Medieval Latin clocca, probably from Celtic, compare Old Irish clocc, Welsh cloch, Manx clagg, all from Proto-Celtic *klokkos; ultimately imitative.

Noun

cloche oblique singular, f (oblique plural cloches, nominative singular cloche, nominative plural cloches)

1. bell (metal apparatus used to produce sound)

Spanish

Alternative forms

• cloch, clutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English clutch.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈklot͡ʃe/ [ˈklo.t͡ʃe]
• Rhymes: -otʃe
• Syllabification: clo‧che

Noun

cloche m (plural cloches)

1. clutch

   Synonym: embrague

Further reading

• “cloche”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10