ne'er cast a clout till May be out

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English

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WOTD – 30 May 2024

Etymology

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Ne’er is a contraction of never; while clout is an archaic or dialectal word for a (worthless) piece of cloth or a rag, and is used to refer to clothing in a derogatory manner.[1]

Pronunciation

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Proverb

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ne'er cast a clout till May be out

  1. (UK, dialectal) Do not change from winter clothes to summer clothes until June, as there is often a sudden cold snap in May.
    • [1732, Thomas Fuller, compiler, Gnomologia: Adagies and Proverbs; Wise Sentences and Witty Sayings, Ancient and Modern, Foreign and British, London: […] B. Barker […]; and A. Bettesworth and C. Hitch, […], →OCLC, paragraph 6193, page 276:
      Leave not off a Clout, / Till May be out.]
    • [1834 February 8, “Popular Rhymes. The Weather.”, in William Chambers, Robert Chambers, editors, Chambers’ Edinburgh Journal, volume III, number 106, Edinburgh: William and Robert Chambers, […]; [William Somerville] Orr and Smith, […], published 1835, →OCLC, page 16, column 2:
      There is another ungracious rhyme about this favourite month of the poets— / Till May be out / Change na a clout: / That is, thin not your winter-clothing till the end of May—a good maxim if we are to put faith in the great father of modern medicine, [Herman] Boerhaave, who, on being consulted as to the proper time for putting off flannel, is said to have answered, "On Midsummer night, and—put it on again next morning!"]
    • 1849 May 4, “To Correspondents. [Poetry.]”, in The Liverpool Mercury, and Lancashire, Cheshire, and General Advertiser, volume XXXIX, number 2088, Liverpool: Thomas Rogerson, […], and John Smith, […], at the Mercury and General Printing Establishment, […], →OCLC, page 286:
      Of old it was said,— / "Ne'er cast a clout / Till May is out." / More recently the version is, / "No garment cast / Till May be past." / The advice is the same, but how different the style!
    • [1875 March 9, “March”, in New-York Tribune, volume XXXIV, number 10,588, New York, N.Y.: [s.n.], →ISSN, →OCLC, page 6, column 5:
      The defenses against him [the month of March] should be more carefully watched than those of the depth of Winter. Fires are left to smolder down in the warmth of the day until the house is thoroughly chilled, and a sudden damp wind springs up in the afternoon and carries disease and death into the open windows. "Till May be out, Ne'er cast a clout," is counsel as good as homely.]
    • [1914, Hugh G[erard] Evelyn-White, “Introduction”, in Hesiod, translated by Hugh G. Evelyn-White, Hesiod: The Homeric Hymns and Homerica […] (Loeb Classical Library; no. 57), London: William Heinemann; New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Co., →OCLC, page xi:
      In this sense the Boeotian poetry may be taken to have its germ in maxims similar to our English / "Till May be out, ne'er cast a clout," / or / "A rainbow in the morning / Is the Shepherd's warning."]
    • 1994, Daniel Roche, “Caring for Clothes: From Propriety to Cleanliness”, in Jean Birrell, transl., The Culture of Clothing: Dress and Fashion in the ‘Ancien Régime’ (Past and Present Publications), Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, published 1999, →ISBN, part 3 (Producing, Selling and Stealing: The Distribution of Appearances), page 377:
      Proverbs emphasise the protective function of clothes, which are valued more highly if they protect from heat or cold, rain or sun: […] It was better to wear too much than too little, and one should not be in too much of a hurry to shed one's winter clothes at the first sign of fine weather: ‘Ne’er cast a clout till May be out.’
    • 2006, Steve Roud, “May”, in The English Year: A Month-by-month Guide to the Nation’s Customs and Festivals, from May Day to Mischief Night, paperback edition, London: Penguin Books, published 2008, →ISBN, pages 200–201:
      The well-known phrase ‘Cast ne’er a clout [or ‘Ne’er cast a clout’] till May is out’ cautions people not to cast off their winter clothes until they are sure that summer is with us. In recent years it has been commonly stated that the phrase does not refer to the month of May but rather to the blossoming of the hawthorn, which in many parts is referred to as ‘may’, but many earlier references to the phrase make it perfectly clear that the month is what is meant. The saying was often extended to include other months, as in […] a rhyme printed in Notes & Queries in 1870 but claimed to be current in Yorkshire a hundred years before: / Don’t change a clout / Till May is out; / If you change in June / ’Twill be too soon.
    • 2020, Elizabeth Wood, “May”, in Pancakes and Plum Pudding: A Pathway to the Past (Looking at Customs, Cooking, Saints’ Days and Superstitions), Kibworth Beauchamp, Leicestershire: Matador, →ISBN, page 87:
      May 31st is the day to look out and iron summer dresses, as our grandmothers used to say. / "Ne'er cast a clout / Till May be out."

Alternative forms

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Translations

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ “ne’er cast a clout till May be out” under “clout, n.1”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, March 2024; “ne’er cast a clout till May be out, phrase”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Further reading

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