club

English Online Dictionary. What means club‎? What does club mean?

English

Etymology

From Middle English clubbe, from Old Norse klubba, klumba (“cudgel”), from Proto-Germanic *klumpô (“clip, clasp; clump, lump; log, block”). Cognate with English clump, cloud, Latin globus, glomus; and perhaps related to Middle Low German kolve (“bulb”), German Kolben (“butt, bulb, club”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: klŭb, IPA^(key): /klʌb/
• (Northern England, Ireland) IPA^(key): /klʊb/
• Rhymes: -ʌb

Noun

club (plural clubs)

2. An association of members joining together for some common purpose, especially sports or recreation.
   1. (archaic) The fees associated with belonging to such a club.
      • 1783, Benjamin Franklin:^[2]

        He can have no right to the benefits of Society, who will not pay his Club towards the Support of it.

4. A heavy object, often a kind of stick, intended for use as a bludgeoning weapon or a plaything.
   1. An implement to hit the ball in certain ball games, such as golf.
5. A joint charge of expense, or any person's share of it; a contribution to a common fund.
   • 17 Mat 1660, Samuel Pepys, diary

     first we went and dined at a French house , but paid 10s for our part of the club

6. An establishment that provides staged entertainment, often with food and drink, such as a nightclub.

7. (card games) A black clover shape (♣), one of the four symbols used to mark the suits of playing cards.
   1. A playing card marked with such a symbol.

8. (humorous) Any set of people with a shared characteristic.

9. A club sandwich.
10. The slice of bread in the middle of a club sandwich.
11. (World War I– World War II, military slang) The propeller of an aeroplane.

Synonyms

• (association of members): confraternity
• (weapon): cudgel
• (sports association): team
• See also Thesaurus:stick

Hyponyms

• sports club

Derived terms

Descendants

• → Afrikaans: klub
• → Czech: klub
• → Dutch: club
• → French: club
  • → Khmer: ក្លឹប (kləp)
  • → Romanian: club
  • → Ottoman Turkish: قلوب (klüb)
    • Turkish: kulüp
• → German: Club, Klub (used to be common for some decades, but is now becoming less frequent again)
  • Russian: клуб (klub), клубъ (klub) — Pre-reform orthography (1918)
    • → Yakut: кулууп (kuluup)
    • → Yiddish: קלוב (klub)
  • Serbo-Croatian: klȗb/клу̑б
• → Greek: κλαμπ (klamp), γκλομπ (gklomp), γκλοπ n (gklop), κλομπ n (klomp)
• → Indonesian: klub
• → Japanese: 倶楽部 (kurabu), クラブ (see there for further descendants)
• → Malay: kelab
• → Spanish: club
• → Tokelauan: kalapu
• → Welsh: clwb

Translations

See also

• wand

Verb

club (third-person singular simple present clubs, present participle clubbing, simple past and past participle clubbed)

1. (transitive) To hit with a club.

2. To score a victory over by a large margin.
3. (intransitive) To join together to form a group.
4. (intransitive, transitive) To combine into a club-shaped mass.

   a medical condition with clubbing of the fingers and toes

5. (intransitive) To go to nightclubs.

6. (intransitive) To pay an equal or proportionate share of a common charge or expense.
7. (transitive) To raise, or defray, by a proportional assessment.

   to club the expense

8. (nautical) To drift in a current with an anchor out.
9. (military) To throw, or allow to fall, into confusion.
10. (transitive) To unite, or contribute, for the accomplishment of a common end.
11. (transitive, military) To turn the breech of (a musket) uppermost, so as to use it as a club.

Derived terms

• club together
• clubbing
• go clubbing

Translations

References

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from English club.

Noun

club m (plural clubs)

1. club (association)
2. (golf) club

Derived terms

• club escacs
• club esportiu
• club nàutic
• club nocturn

Further reading

• “club”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025.

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English club. Doublet of klomp.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /klʏp/
• Hyphenation: club
• Rhymes: -ʏp

Noun

club m (plural clubs, diminutive clubje n or (Hollandic) cluppie n)

1. club, association, organisation
2. (golf) club
3. nightclub

   Synonyms: nachtclub, discotheek

Usage notes

• The diminutive clubje is often used derogatorily and tends to connote corruption, collusion and/or subversion.

Derived terms

French

Etymology

Borrowed from English club.

Pronunciation

• (France) IPA^(key): /klœb/, /klyb/
• (Quebec) IPA^(key): /klʏb/, /klɔb/

Noun

club m (plural clubs)

1. club (association)
2. (golf) club

   Synonym: (Quebec) bâton

Derived terms

• bienvenue au club
• soda club

Descendants

• → Khmer: ក្លឹប (kləp)
• → Romanian: club
• → Ottoman Turkish: قلوب (klüb)
  • Turkish: kulüp

Further reading

• “club”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Italian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English club.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈklab/, /ˈklɛb/, /ˈklub/, /ˈkløb/
• Rhymes: -ab, -ɛb, -ub
• Hyphenation: clùb

Noun

club m (invariable)

1. club (association)
2. club (golf implement)

References

Middle English

Noun

club

1. Alternative form of clubbe

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French club.

Pronunciation

Noun

club n (plural cluburi)

1. club

Declension

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from English club.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈklub/ [ˈkluβ̞]
• Rhymes: -ub
• Syllabification: club

Noun

club m (plural clubs or clubes)

1. club (association)

   Synonyms: asociación, cofradía, gremio

Derived terms

Further reading

• “club”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10