May flower or may month?

[mully]

Does the saying

Never cast a clout till May is out

mean the month of May or the May Blossom and where did this saying originate

[Peter Pedant]

It coomz from up t' North, Ma'am

and it's the month of May because it so goddam cold here even in this age of global warming.

Clout is cognate with cloth and means a piece of clothing, by the way. The kidz get whacked all the year round, by the way, and the phrase for that is

shurrup orall bash yer !

[bluedog]

I found this-

The wind at North and East

Was never good for man nor beast

So never think to cast a clout

Until the month of May be out.

From Whitby Glossary 1855.

Hope this helps.

[catra1]

isn't it to do with kids being sown into their clothing over winter and they wound be unpicked once may was over. i know this happened in the north with people who worked in the mills in the 1940s

[brionon]

I've always thought it was the May flower that had to be out, and Odd Billy agrees with me according to yesterday's Spring Watch. Repeated this afternoon.

[flaming]

"Never cast a clout 'til May's out" was one of my nana's favourite sayings during May, when as a child I would want to wear summery things before the end of the month.