cliath

[391], c. fis 10 21 n; bulwark 1 18; battle 5 17, TD 10 10 n; c. ochta 62 13; i gcléith a cinidh 87 16 n.

[N. 39] hurdle, battle-array; ds. cléith 1317.

a wattle, a wattle defensive structure, poem VI, introductory note. cliath fhosgaidh ar áth, a wattle defensive structure in a ford, 664 ; cf. cliath fhosgaidh, 673, 681, 1054. cliath go mbearaibh omhna, a wattle defensive structure with wooden shafts, 684. Used in various metaphorical senses: --(1) defence: do sgiath . . . cliath nach buailfidhear, your shield is a defence that will not be struck, 116; (2) hero, warrior, defender: cliatha gaisgidh na nGaoidheal, 2716; (3) a spear, a sword: dhá chléith le dornchlaibh docra, 2799 (here used in a double sense of ‘warrior’, ‘sword’; guin cléithe, 3218 Other uses: cléthghlac, ‘a stout grasp’, compound of cliath and glac, hand, grasp, 207; ’sa chléith catha, in the thick of battle, 3648; a pun on cliath foirsde, harrow: cliath léarbh ál garbhfhoirseadh gliadh, a cliath that would desire the harsh harrowing of the battle, 704

(39), i gcléith in battle 2570; -mhagh 2620; -ghaoth 3081 n.

f., wattle, phalanx, row, rank; comhla 7 cl. chosnaimh, 6894; gen. cléithe, 2304; pl. cliatha catha, 6607