cloche

English

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cloche

Wikipedia

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:

     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.
   • 2025 June 27, Colette Davidson, Mark Sappenfield, “For Iranian diaspora in Europe, the war back home is a dilemma”, in The Christian Science Monitor:

     Pistachio and date-filled cakes glisten under a glass cloche as customers drinking cardamom tea settle into brightly tapestried pouf chairs at the Pouya café and cultural center in Paris.

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: Abdeckhaube f, Glosche f, Servierglocke f Italian: please add this translation if you can Japanese: クロッシュ (kurosshu) Spanish: cubreplatos, campana (es)

See also

• (bell-shaped glass cover): bell jar

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)

• Audio (France (Agen)):

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• Audio (France (Toulouse)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

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• Audio (France (Vosges)):

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• Audio (France (Lyon)):

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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. cloche (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 cloc, 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

Derived terms

• enclochar

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], 10 December 2024