Clothes

[harkins]

Sounds like a hefty punch 5 letters

[Mamyalynne]

Clout

[Mamyalynne]

Clout5. British dialect
a. a piece of cloth
a dish clout
b. a garment

[harkins]

Sorry but what is a clout

[harkins]

Many thanks

[gness]

Ahhh....Cast ne'er a clout til May is out.... And I now also know it's probably the Hawthorn not the month of May. Thank you, Mamya!

[Mamyalynne]

You're welcome :-)

[marho1]

Socks??

[Mamyalynne]

Thought of that but the cue says 'a' indicating a singular.

[Mamyalynne]

* clue

[elliemay1]

'socks' is plural yet the clue suggests a singular answer

[Peter Pedant]

clout
it is what you dont cast until May be out

( like now - sunny but still goddam cold)

rather obvious cloth with a vowel change
and a rare /th/ to /t/

( "troobl up t' mill" the /t/ is said not to be a mutated 'the' but a left over from the Danish article te within the dane law. - er historical linguistics doesnt pay the rent)