clis ar

From Middle Irish clisid ar, clisid tar (“to surpass, excel”, literally “to jump on/jump past”).^[1]

clis ar (present analytic cliseann ar, future analytic clisfidh ar, verbal noun cliseadh ar, past participle cliste ar)

1. (obsolete) to surpass
2. to fail

   Chlis sé orm é a dhénamh.

   I failed to do it.

   Chlis orm sa scrúdú.

   I failed the exam.

   (literally, “It failed me in the exam.”)

   Tá an chuimhne ag cliseadh uirthi.

   Her memory is failing.

   (literally, “The memory is failing her.”)

   • 1899, Franz Nikolaus Finck, Die araner mundart [The Aran Dialect], volume II (overall work in German), Marburg: Elwert’sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, page 175:

     ńī çlišə šē eŕ ə hȧxt ərǽš.

     [Ní chlisfidh sé air a theacht ar ais.]

     He will not fail to come back.

     (literally, “It will not fail him to come back.”)

3. to let down (disappoint)

   Chlis an rialtas orainn.

   The government let us down.

Generally used impersonally or with the thing or endeavor that has failed as the subject; the person affected by the failure is expressed as the object of ar.

• (fail): teip ar

• Dinneen, Patrick S. (1927), “clisim”, in Foclóir Gaeḋilge agus Béarla, 2nd edition, Dublin: Irish Texts Society, page 206; reprinted with additions 1996, →ISBN
• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977), “clis ar”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN