Usually associated now with coagulated blood but also a word for hardened lumps of earth, a meaning now given to ‘clod’ which shares the same etymology.
An officer appointed by the Justices of Peace whose task it was to examine finished cloths in any of the clothiers’ workplaces, to ensure that no deceitful stretching or tentering had taken place.
A word of Old English origin, on record from a.700. As a substantive it referred commonly to metal plates which were nailed to those parts of carts, ploughs and wains that were subject to wear and tear.
From the seventeenth century at least it was a custom among workmen generally to club together when purchasing drink, and the noun 'club' can be compared in such contexts with the modern ‘kitty’.
There seems to be some uncertainty about the exact meaning of this word which has been said to be a kind of ‘knobbed’ andiron or one of the irons on which a spit turns (OED).