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Alan LeHun · April 15th 15, 10:39 PM posted to uk.sci.weather

In article ,
says...
Apart from the fact that the very poor won't have a set of winter clothing and the rich won't give a damn. So where do you get the idea a clout is an article of clothing/set of winter wear?

Clout has meant (amongst over things) cloth or clothing since the 15thC.
It is a very very common word and is still used in that meaning up here
in Scotland.

The earliest known written example of the proverb doesn't seem to sit so
well with your explanation.

From Fullers Gnomologia 1732

Leave not off a Clout,
Till May be out.

For those who are not sure if May refers to May or the Hawthorn, I shall
requote the proverb in the context of the other proverbs that came
before and after it in the book

A cool May and a Windy
Barn filleth up finely

May come early. come late.
'Twill make the Cow to quake

An hot May, as I have heard,
Maketh a fat Church-yard.

Leave off not a Clout,
Till May be out.

A May-flood
Never did good.

Shear your sheep in May,
and clear them all away.

A swarm of Bees in May,
Is worth a load of Hay;
But a swarm in July,
Is not worth a fly.

Be sure of Hay
Till the end of May.

--
Alan LeHun
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