clart

English

Alternative forms

• clairt, clort

Etymology

From Middle English *clart, found in the verb biclarten (“to cover or smear with dirt”). Cognate with Scots clart, clairt (“to besmear”), Scots clarty (“dirty”). Further origin uncertain.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /klɑːt/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)t

Noun

clart (plural clarts)

1. A daub.

   a clart of grease

2. (now Scotland, Northern England) Sticky mud, mire or filth.
   • 1997, Thomas Pynchon, Mason & Dixon:

     I’m but a county Surveyor,– not really at m’ best upon the grand and global type of expedition, content here at home, old Geordie a-slog thro’ the clarts […].

3. (Geordie, derogatory) A person who is unclean.
4. (Geordie, derogatory) A fool.
5. Unwanted stuff; junk; clutter; rubbish; stuff that is in the way.

   I need to get rid of all this clart. (Clearing unwanted items from a table top)

Derived terms

• beclart
• clarty

References

• Newcastle 1970s, Scott Dobson and Dick Irwin, [1]
• Frank Graham (1987) The New Geordie Dictionary, →ISBN
• A List of words and phrases in everyday use by the natives of Hetton-le-Hole in the County of Durham, F.M.T.Palgrave, English Dialect Society vol.74, 1896, [2]
• Todd's Geordie Words and Phrases, George Todd, Newcastle, 1977[3]

Verb

clart (third-person singular simple present clarts, present participle clarting, simple past and past participle clarted)

1. (transitive, now Scotland, Northern England) To daub, smear, or spread, especially with mud, etc.; to dirty.
   • 1932, Lewis Grassic Gibbon, Sunset Song (A Scots Quair), Polygon, published 2006, page 43:

     Chris boiled water in kettles for hours and hours and then towels came down, towels clairted with stuff she didn't dare look at, she washed them quick and hung them to dry.