cling

Formsclings, clinging, clung

Pluralclings (some meanings)

1. 1
   verbintransitive

   To hold something very tightly, especially so as not to fall off.

   The climber clung to the narrow ledge until help arrived.

   Sailors cling to the rigging when the sea gets rough.

   Similargrip, hold, grasp, grab, clutch

   Note

   The core physical verb takes to before whatever is held. Seaweed clings to an anchor, and in a 1950 Railway Magazine report on Indian trains, passengers cling "to the outsides of the coaches." Its past tense and past participle are both clung, and clinged is nonstandard for this verb. Grip and clinch are close synonyms, but cling keeps the sense of holding on so as not to fall.

2. 2
   verbintransitive

   To adhere closely to a surface without being fastened to it, following its contours; used especially of fabrics and films.

   The silk dress clung to her figure as she walked.

   A rubbed balloon will cling to the wall for several minutes.

   Similarstick, adhere, attach, cleave, cohere

3. 3
   verbfigurativelyintransitive

   To feel strong affection for and emotional dependence on someone or something.

   Long after the divorce, she clung to the memory of happier years.

   Voters often cling to the parties their parents supported.

   Similarstick, hold

   Note

   The figurative extension of holding on tightly keeps its preposition. People cling to a hope, a memory or a party, and the construction always needs to. The image of a hand that will not let go stays inside the meaning. That is why the word suggests dependence and reluctance to let go, not just affection.

4. 4
   verbtransitive

   To make something adhere closely to something else, especially by twining it around or embracing it.

   Similarstick, adhere, attach, cleave, cohere

   Note

   Here the verb takes a direct object, so the person acting makes something else hold fast. Swift, in 1732, "clung my legs as close to his sides as I could." The pattern is the reverse of the everyday holding-on meaning. In that meaning the clinger is the one gripping and the thing held follows to, as in she clung to the rope.

5. 5
   noununcountable

   The quality of adhering or holding on closely; emotional attachment or devotion.

   The cling of damp leaves to the windshield slowed his drive to work.

   Critics noted the author's stubborn cling to outdated literary forms.

   Similaradherence, attachment, devotion, grip

   Note

   A noun that keeps the verb's preposition. Milton in 1641 writes of "a more tenacious cling to worldly respects", and the to follows the noun exactly as it follows the emotional verb. Adjectives of persistence, such as tenacious and stubborn, sit naturally in front of it, because the noun names a hold that will not loosen rather than mere fondness.

6. 6
   nouncountable or uncountable

   Fruit, especially the peach, whose flesh adheres strongly to the pit instead of separating from it.

   California growers raise cling almost exclusively for the canneries.

   Cling peaches keep their shape in syrup better than freestone varieties.

   Similarclingstone

   Oppositefreestone

   Note

   A fruit named for the way its flesh holds on. The word runs back through Middle English clingen to Old English clingan, "to adhere", the same verb behind holding on tightly, with Danish klynge, "to cluster, to crowd", as a cognate. As a noun it counts like any fruit name, so O. Henry's 1908 feast can end with "a can of yellow clings", the plural standing for the canned fruit itself.

7. 7
   nouncountable

   A decorative item that sticks to window glass without adhesive, positioned to be seen from outside.

   A pumpkin cling decorated the classroom window every October.

   Shops along Main Street advertise with vinyl clings facing the sidewalk.

   Note

   A classroom and shop-window word, usually met in the compound window cling. Diane M. Hyde's Year-Round Classroom Tips (2004) explains how to make them from transparency sheets, school glue and food coloring. Cling-on is another name for the same thing. The noun is simply the verb turned into an object: the thing that holds to the glass by contact alone is named for what it does.

8. 8
   verbintransitive

   To give off a high-pitched ringing sound, like that of a small bell.

   Wind chimes cling softly on the porch all afternoon.

   The oven timer clings when the cookies are done.

   Similarring, tinkle, jingle, chime, ding

   Note

   A separate word that happens to share the spelling. It is imitative, related to clink and clang, not to the verb of holding on. It also forms its past with -ed: in Cleveland Moffett and Oliver Herford's The Bishop's Purse (1913), the tiny chimes "clinged the hours," whereas clung belongs to the holding verb. Femi Abodunrin's "tiny clinging bells" are ringing bells, not gripping ones.

9. 9
   interjection

   Used to represent a high-pitched ringing sound, such as that made by a small bell.

   Cling! The bell over the door announced another customer.

   Cling, cling went the spoon against the glass as he called for a toast.

   Similarting

10. 10
    verbintransitive

    To dry up or wither.
11. 11
    verbtransitive

    To cause something to dry up or wither.

    If thou speak'st false, / Upon the next tree shalt thou hang alive, / Till famine cling thee.

    c. 1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”

    Note

    The meaning here is withering, not holding, and Shakespeare gives it its sharpest line. In Macbeth, the king warns that a liar will hang alive "till famine cling thee," meaning until hunger shrivels him as drought shrivels a plant. The verb is transitive, with the cause of the drying as its subject. Its intransitive partner lets the thing itself do the drying up.

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