clobber

present singular third person clobbers · participle present clobbering · participle past clobbered · past clobbered

1. slangtransitiveTo hit or bash severely; to seriously harm or damage.

   So the temptation to clobber was always there, and it was sometimes more difficult not to strike than it would have been to strike, and the consequences be damned.

   1954, Evan Hunter, The Blackboard Jungle, published 1984, page 201

   2 more examples

   2000 November 30, Kenya National Assembly Official Record (Hansard), page 3034, Mr. Speaker, Sir, in the East African Standard newspaper we saw a picture of a man being carried away after being clobbered. We also saw women being clobbered by well-built policemen using big clubs. They were clobbering women who had already fallen on the ground.

   Most of the job of the UNIX Oracle DBA is keeping the database running, and it does not come as a surprise when they see how easy it is to clobber a server. The following script cripples the UNIX server by an implosion of incoming jobs. This is known as a denial of service (DOS) attack[…].

   2002, Donald K. Burleson, Oracle9i UNIX Administration Handbook, page 395

   Synonyms: slog, slug

2. slangtransitivecomputingTo overwrite (data) or override (an assignment of a value), often unintentionally or unexpectedly.

   The cp command does one thing as it clobbers a file; mv and ln do another.

   2004, John R. Levine, Margaret Levine Young, Unix for Dummies, page 314

   5 more examples

   It is therefore clear that the system itself must be truly "clobber proof"; that is, no user may be capable of changing anyone else's program or tying up the system in any way that would disrupt normal service to other users.

   1965 November, Charles W. Adams, “Responsive time-shared computing in business its significance and implications”, in AFIPS '65 (Fall, part I): Proceedings of the November 30--December 1, 1965, fall joint computer conference, part I, New York, N.Y.: Association for Computing Machinery, archived from the original on 11 May 2022, page 486

   In the slang of computer programmers, the second re-entry address is likely to "clobber" the machine's memory of the original re-entry address.

   1966, George A. Miller, “Thinking machines: myths and actualities”, in Daniel Bell, Irving Kristol, editors, The Public Interest, volume 2, New York, N.Y.: National Affairs, Inc., archived from the original on 11 May 2022, page 104

   Inferences made in accordance with this reason are defeated by finding that the merged plan clobbers one of the causal-links in one of the constituent plans.

   1999, Michael J. Wooldridge, Anand Rao, Foundations of Rational Agency, page 74

   These functions collide, and we can see in Figure 7-1 that the debug() function for SexyWidgets clobbers the developer′s debug() function. The last function declared with the same name in the same scope will silently clobber the earlier function definition.

   2007, Billy Hoffman, Bryan Sullivan, Ajax Security, unnumbered page

   If you create your own mood instance attribute without being aware of the name clash, you will clobber the mood attribute used by the methods inherited from Dog.

   2022, Luciano Ramalho, chapter 11, in Fluent Python, 2nd edition, O'Reilly, →ISBN

1. slanguncountableA beating.

   Near-synonyms: clobbering, clubbing, thumping

   1 more example

   He should have stepped back and given Hemi room to chat and see where the women^([sic]) was going, yet he found himself drawn over to them. His friend would probably give him a clobber later on for his stupidity […]

   2014, Philippa Ballantine, Weather Child

   Synonyms: clobbering, clubbing, thumping

2. uncountableA bash on say the head, typically with a tool or object rather than with fists.

1. AustraliaUKslanguncountableClothing; clothes.

   Now to get rid of this respectable clobber and feel like a man again.

   1900, [George] Bernard Shaw, “Captain Brassbound’s Conversion”, in Three Plays for Puritans: The Devil’s Disciple, Cæsar and Cleopatra, & Captain Brassbound’s Conversion, London: Grant Richards, […], published 1901, →OCLC, Act III, page 292

   4 more examples

   W'y, they call a man a robber if 'e stuffs 'is marchin' clobber / With the— / (Chorus) Loo! loo! Lulu! lulu! Loo! loo! Loot! loot! loot!

   1892, Rudyard Kipling, “Loot”, in Barrack-Room Ballads and Other Verses, 3rd edition, London: Methuen & Co. […], →OCLC, page 31

   I was thinkin' of the widow while I gets me clobber on— / Like a feller will start thinkin' of the times that's past an' gone.

   1919, C. J. Dennis, Red Robin, in Jim of The Hills, Gutenberg Australia eBook #0500931

   "Now just you put on that there clobber, chum," he said, stepping back.

   1951, John Wyndham, The Day of the Triffids, Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, published 1954, page 134

   I went to one in Woolwich, south-east London, which is one of the first stores to welcome the Pep&Co range, to road test the new uber-cheap clobber for myself.

   2017 March 30, Gemma Mullin, “We road test new uber-cheap clobber as Poundland rolls-out its own clothing range – but there’s a twist”, in The Sun

2. UKslanguncountableEquipment.

1. uncountableA paste used by shoemakers to hide the cracks in leather.