SG Heritage Dictionary

Clack [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1828

1. A sharp, abrupt sound continually repeated, such as is made by striking an object, or by bursting or cracking; continually talk; as, we do not wish to hear his clack; a common expression. Hence the word is used for the tongue, the instrument of clacking.

2. The instrument that strikes the hopper of a grist-mill, to move or shake it, for discharging the corn. And according to Johnson, a bell that rings when more corn is required to be put in.

3. To clack wool, is to cut off the sheeps mark, which makes it weigh less, and yield less duty.

Clack [Verb intransitive] Webster's Dictionary 1828

1. To make a sudden sharp noise, as by striking or cracking; to clink; to click.

2. To utter words rapidly and continually, or with sharp, abrupt sounds; to let the tongue run.

Clack [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1913

1. To make a sudden, sharp noise, or a succesion of such noises, as by striking an object, or by collision of parts; to rattle; to click.

2. To utter words rapidly and continually, or with abruptness; to let the tongue run.

Clack [Verb transitive] Webster's Dictionary 1913

1. To cause to make a sudden, sharp noise, or succession of noises; to click.

2. To utter rapidly and inconsiderately.

3. A sharp, abrupt noise, or succession of noises, made by striking an object.

4. Anything that causes a clacking noise, as the clapper of a mill, or a clack valve.

5. Continual or importunate talk; prattle; prating.

Clacked [Imperfect tense and past participle] Webster's Dictionary 1913

of Clack

Clacker [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1828

One that clacks; that which clacks.

Clacker [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1913

1. One who clacks; that which clacks; especially, the clapper of a mill.

2. A claqueur. See Claqueur.

Clacking [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1828

A prating.

Clacking [Participle present tense] Webster's Dictionary 1828

Making a sharp, abrupt sound, continually repeated; talking continually; tattling; rattling with the tongue.

Clacking [Present participle and verbal noun] Webster's Dictionary 1913

of Clack

Clackmannan Encyclopedia Britannica

CLACKMANNAN, a county of Scotland, on the north bank of the River Forth, situated between 56° 5' and 56° 14' N. lat., and 3° 33' and 3° 56' W. long., is bounded on the S.W. by the Forth, W. by Stirlingshire, N. and N.W. by Perthshire and a detached portion of Stirling, E. by Fife, and N.E. by a detached portion of Perth. It is the smallest county in the United Kingdom, is irregular in form, and occupies an area of 47½ square miles, or 30,477 acres. The surface of the county is varied in its character. An elevated ridge rises on the west, and, running through the middle of the county, spreads itself gradually till it reaches the eastern boundary, skirting the alluvial or carse lands in the valleys of the Forth and of the Devon. Still further to the north, the Ochil Hills (the highest of which is Bencleuch, 2363 feet, above Tillicoultry) form a very picturesque landscape, having their generally verdant surface broken by bold projecting rocks and deeply indented ravines. The range forms a great igneous mound, developing itself in amygdaloid felspar and porphyry, and occasionally in pentagonal columns of basaltic greenstone. It is used almost entirely for sheep farming....

The only streams worthy of notice which traverse the county are the Devon and the Black or South Devon. The former, remarkable in the upper parts of its course for its romantic scenery, runs through the county near the base of the Ochils, and falls into the Forth at the village of Cambus. The Black Devon flows westward in a direction nearly parallel to the Devon, and falls into the Forth near Clackmannan. It supplies motive power to numbers of mills and coal engines; and its whole course is over coal strata. The Forth is navigable as far as it forms the boundary of this county, and ships of 500 tons burden can run up as far as Alloa.

The soils of the arable land of Clackmannanshire are in general productive and well cultivated; though the greater part of the elevated range which is interposed between the carse lands on the Forth and the vale of Devon at the base of the Ochils on the north consists of inferior soils, often incumbent on an impervious clay. All the crops commonly raised in Scotland grow luxuriantly on both sides of this tract, which also contains within itself a considerable proportion of valuable soil. According to the agricultural returns for 1875 the area of land under cultivation in Clackmannan is considerably above the average for Scotland, and the average under corn is 7 per cent, above the average of other counties. In minerals the county is rich. Iron-ore (haematite), copper, silver, lead, cobalt, and arsenic have all been discovered in small quantity in the Ochils, between Airthry and Dollar. Iron-stone is wrought to a considerable extent for the Devon iron-works, near Clackmannan. It is found either in beds, or in oblate balls imbedded in slaty clay, and yields from twenty-five to thirty per cent, of iron. Coal has been wrought for upwards of two hundred years in this county. A considerable proportion of the quantity obtained is shipped at Alloa for foreign ports. It is all bituminous or common coal of a good quality; no smithy or caking coal has yet been discovered. In 1871 there were 2137 persons engaged in coal mining and its adjuncts. The strata which compose the coal-field are varieties of sand-stone, shale, fire-clay, and argillaceous ironstone. The great coal-field of Scotland, which passes in a diagonal line from the mouths of the Forth and Tay to the Irish Sea, is bounded by the Ochils; no coal has been found to the north of them, except at Brora, in Sutherlandshire.

There is a considerable manufacturing industry in the county. Woollens are made extensively at Tillicoultry; and at other parts distilling, brewing, coopering, tanning, glass-blowing, and ship-building are carried on. In 1871 there were 4952 persons engaged in connection with the woollen manufacture, or more than a fifth of the whole population.

Among the antiquities of Clackmannan may be mentioned the ruins of Castle Campbell, an old seat of the Argyll family, occupying a singularly wild and almost inaccessible situation, above the village of Dollar. It was burned by Montrose in 1644. The tower of Alloa, built prior to the year 1300, the residence of the Erskines, earls of Mar, now belonging to the representative of that noble family, is in good preservation. The tower of Clackmannan was long the seat of a lineal descendant of the Bruce family after the failure of the male line.

According to the parliamentary return for 1873 Clackmannan county was divided among 1227 proprietors, the average size of the properties amounting to 24½ acres (that of all Scotland being 143), while the average value of the land was <£3, 4s. 6d. per acre (that of Scotland being £1). There were in the same year 1137 properties of less than 1 acre, 52 of 1 and under 10∙ acres, 20 of 10 and under 100, and 5 above 2000—the largest amounting to 6163 acres, the property of the earl of Kellie.

Clackmannanshire sends a member to Parliament conjunctly with the county of Kinross and certain adjoining parishes. By the Reform Bill, the parishes of Culross and Tulliallan, formerly comprehended in the county of Perth, Alva, formerly belonging to Stirling, and the Perthshire portion of Logie were included in the parliamentary group. The population of the county in 1861 was 21,450, and in 1871, 23,747, consisting of 11,555 males and 12,192 females. The principal towns are—Alloa, population 9000; Tillicoultry, 3700; Dollar, 2100; and Clackmannan, 1300.

9th ed. Encyclopædia Britannica, vol. 5, p. 798
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