cly, v. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

cly v.

[poss. f. Ger. kleien and Du. kleyen, to scratch (with the nails), to claw the head; Ribton-Turner, A History of Vagrants (1887), suggests Erse cloib, a snatch]

to seize, to get, to take; to steal.

c.1566		Harman Caveat for Common Cursetours in Viles & Furnivall (1907) 86: Gerry gan, the ruffian clye thee. A torde in thy mouth, the deuyll take thee.
1608		Dekker Lanthorne and Candle-Light Ch. 1: The Ruffin cly the nab of the Harman beck.
1610		Rowlands Martin Mark-all 42: But if we spid we shall be clyd / And carried to the quirken hall.
1637		Dekker Canting Song in Eng. Villainies (8th edn) O2: Niggling thou (I know) dost love, else the Ruffin cly thee Mort.
1641		R. Brome Jovial Crew II i: Here, safe in our Skipper, let’s cly off our Peck, / And bowse in defiance o’ the Harman-Beck.
1674		‘The Beggars Curse’ Head Canting Academy (1674) 14: [as cit. 1608].
1688		R. Holme Academy of Armory Ch. iii item 68c: Canting Terms used by Beggars, Vagabonds, Cheaters, Cripples and Bedlams. [...] Cly, Haunt, Molest.
1688		J. Shirley Triumph of Wit 222: [as cit. 1637].
1754		Scoundrel’s Dict.
a.1789		G. Parker ? ‘The Sandman’s Wedding’ in Dodsley (1826) 65: Joe sold his sand, and cly’d his cole.
1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue (3rd edn) n.p.: The ruffian cly thee; the Devil take thee.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum [as cit. 1796].
1821		‘An Amateur’ Real Life in London I 633: Fly, ye prigs, for now’s the hour, / (Tho’ boosey kids have lost their power,) / When watchful Charleys, like the Sun, / Their nightly course of duty run / Beneath the pale-faced moon; / But take this warning while ye fly, / That if you nibble, click or clye, / My sight’s so dim, I cannot see, / Unless while you the blunt tip me: / Then stay, then stay; / For I shall make this music speak, / And bring you up before the Beak, / Unless the chink’s in tune.
1835		Metropolitan Mag. XIV Sept. 333: Our suit [...] got on pretty well — we served it out to three flatty-gories in the first week, clying upwards of a hundred couple of quid.
1840		Flash Mirror 7: Queering a Greenhorn. — Togging as a Policeman [...] Having a good eye on all yokels. Searching them as suspicious characters. Clying any thing good.
1842		Whip & Satirist of NY & Brooklyn (NY) 6 Aug. n.p.: Mr I. here counted out the ‘tin’ ($150 in gold) and Mr A. clyed it.
1852		Kendal Mercury 17 Apr. 6/1: I told him it vas no go, for I vas up to slum, and vouldn’t be gammon’d, and if he vanted to cly my tin, he vould have to do the square (honest) thing and no fudge.
1860		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc. (2nd edn) 117: To cly [...] to pounce upon, snatch.
1864, 1867, 1870		Hotten Sl. Dict.

In phrases

cly the jerk (v.) (also cly the gerke, cly the lark, clay the jerk)

(UK Und.) to be whipped; thus n. a whipping (see cite 1639).

c.1566		Harman Caveat for Common Cursetours in Viles & Furnivall (1907) 84: to cly the gerke, to be whypped.
1592		Groundworke of Conny-catching A2: [as cit. c.1566].
1608		Dekker Belman of London (3rd) J3: We may happen on the Harmans, and cly the Iarke, or to the quire ken, and scowre quire crampings, and so to trymming on the chetes.
1610		Rowlands Martin Mark-all 38: To Cly the Iarke, to be whipped.
1621		Jonson Gypsies Metamorphosed 4: Therefore, till [...] he be able to beate it on the hard hoofe, to the ben bowse, or the stauling Ken, to nip a Jan, and cly the iarke; ’tis thought fitt he marche in the Infants equipage.
1637		Dekker Canters Dict. Eng. Villainies (8th edn).
1639		J. Taylor Crabtree Lectures 195: Cove. I doe not fear any Harmanbeck, or Pug, nor doe I care for Cly the Ierke.
1648		Dekker Canters Dict. Eng. Villainies (9th edn) .
1665		Head Eng. Rogue I 48: Cly the Jerk, To be whipt.
1674		‘The Beggars Curse’ Head Canting Academy (1674) 14: If we heave a booth we cly the Jerk.
1688		R. Holme Academy of Armory Ch. iii item 68c: Canting Terms used by Beggars, Vagabonds, Cheaters, Cripples and Bedlams. [...] To cly the Jerk, to be Whipt.
c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew.
1706		Coles Eng. Dict.
1719		A. Smith Lives of Most Notorious Highway-men, etc. (1926) 204: [...] To cly the jerk, i.e., to be whipped.
1728		Defoe Street Robberies Considered 31: Cly the Jerk, to be whipt.
1737, 1759, 1760, 1776		Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict.
1754		Scoundrel’s Dict. 19: To be whipped – Clay the Jerk.
1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.
1828		Lytton Pelham III 292: Stubble it, you ben, you deserve to cly the jerk for your patter.
1859		‘Scene in a London Flash-Panny’ Matsell Vocabulum 103: May I cly the jerk at a drag; be trussed in a Kilmainham garter, and fall to the surgeons.