Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Clause

Clause , noun

[French clause, Late Latin clausa, equiv. to Latin clausula clause, prop., close of {not transcribed} rhetorical period, close, from claudere to shut, to end. See Close.]

1.
A separate portion of a written paper, paragraph, or sentence; an article, stipulation, or proviso, in a legal document.
The usual attestation clause to a will. — Bouvier
2.
(Grammar) A subordinate portion or a subdivision of a sentence containing a subject and its predicate.

Clause , noun

See Letters clause or Letters close, under Letter. [Obsolete]