| 释义 |
cloff Commerce.|klɒf|
Also erron. clough.
[Origin obscure. Identity with clove, the weight, has been suggested. Cf. also clef.]
An allowance (now of 2 lbs. in 3 cwt., or 1/168), given with certain commodities, in order that the weight may hold good when they are sold by retail.
According to Grafton, 1568, cloff was the grocer's name for the fixed allowance made to the buyer in lieu of the variable advantage which he formerly had through the inclination in his favour of the King's Beam, a practice abolished in 1269. (See also the Ordinance of Staples, 1353, c. 10.) But there is a long gap between 1269 and 1502, when our quotations begin. Fabyan, whom Grafton copies verbatim for his text, has no mention of cloff.
1502Arnolde Chron. 128 Wherof..shulde be rebated for the tare of euery of the said xij. bales iiij. ll. and for the cloff of euery off the said xij. bales ij. ll...and for the tret of y⊇ same peper C. xxxvij. ll. 1568Grafton Chron. (Hen. III) II. 131 It was ordeyned that the Beame should stande vpright..enclinyng to neyther partie, and the buyer to have of the seller allowed unto him for all thinges *foure pounde of the hundreth. *Margin. This is that allowance yt Grocers call Cloffe. 1660T. Willsford Scales Commerce i. i. 24 Cloffe..is onely an allowance for the refuse of the commodity, which hangs upon the chest or cask, for which is usually allowed but 3 or 4 pound in every parcel. 1828Hutton Pract. Arithm., Tare & Tret, Cloff is an allowance of 2 lb. for every 3 cwt., and some say for every 100 lb. of tret-suttle, to make the weight hold good when sold by retail. |