cloy

cloy
cloy (v.) "weary by too much, fill to loathing, surfeit," 1520s, from M.E. cloyen "hinder movement, encumber" (late 14c.), aphetic of accloyen (early 14c.), from O.Fr. encloer "to fasten with a nail, grip, grasp," figuratively "to hinder, check, stop, curb," from L.L. inclavare “drive a nail into a horse's foot when shoeing,” from L. clavus "a nail" (see SLOT (Cf. slot) (2)). The meaning “fill to a sateity, overfill” is attested for accloy from late 14c.
Accloye is a hurt that cometh of shooing, when a Smith driveth a nail in the quick, which make him to halt. [Edward Topsell, “The History of Four-footed Beasts,” 1607]

Etymology dictionary. 2014.

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  • cloy — cloy; cloy·ing; cloy·less; cloy·some; cloy·ing·ly; cloy·ing·ness; …   English syllables

  • Cloy — (kloi), v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Cloyed} (kloid); p. pr. & vb. n. {Cloying}.] [OE. cloer to nail up, F. clouer, fr. OF. clo nail, F. clou, fr. L. clavus nail. Cf. 3d {Clove}.] 1. To fill or choke up; to stop up; to clog. [Obs.] [1913 Webster] The… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • cloy — [ klɔı ] verb intransitive to make you feel sick or annoyed by being too sweet or too pleasant: The smell of her cheap perfume soon began to cloy. ╾ cloy|ing [ klɔııŋ ] adjective: the movie s cloying sentimentality …   Usage of the words and phrases in modern English

  • cloy — [klɔı] v [I] if something sweet or pleasant cloys, it begins to annoy you because there is too much of it ▪ Her sweet submissive smile began to cloy after a while …   Dictionary of contemporary English

  • cloy — vb *satiate, sate, surfeit, pall, glut, gorge Antonyms: whet Contrasted words: stimulate, pique, excite, *provoke …   New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • cloy — [v] overfill disgust, fill, glut, gorge, jade, nauseate, pall, sate, satiate, satisfy, sicken, stall, stodge, suffice, surfeit, weary; concept 740 …   New thesaurus

  • cloy — [kloi] vt., vi. [aphetic < ME acloien, to hamper, harm, obstruct < OFr encloyer, to fasten with a nail, hinder < clou, a nail < L clavus, nail: see CLOSE2] to surfeit, or make weary or displeased, by too much of something, esp.… …   English World dictionary

  • cloy — UK [klɔɪ] / US verb [intransitive] Word forms cloy : present tense I/you/we/they cloy he/she/it cloys present participle cloying past tense cloyed past participle cloyed to make you feel sick or annoyed by being too sweet or too pleasant The… …   English dictionary

  • cloy — I (New American Roget s College Thesaurus) v. glut, satiate, surfeit, sate; pall, bore. See sufficiency, weariness. II (Roget s IV) v. Syn. satiate, surfeit, suffice, pall; see satisfy 1 , weary 1 . See Synonym Study at satiate . III (Roget s 3… …   English dictionary for students

  • cloy — [14] Cloy originally meant ‘fasten with a nail’. It is a reduced form of the long obsolete acloy, which came from Anglo Norman acloyer. This was a variant of Old French encloyer, a descendant of the Vulgar Latin compound verb inclāvāre, based on… …   The Hutchinson dictionary of word origins

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