Find the word definition

Crossword clues for cling

Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
cling
verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
cling to life (=try to stay alive, even though you are very ill or injured)
▪ She clung to life, despite the pain.
cling to power (=not lose it, or try not to lose it)
▪ Mao Tse-tung, the leader of the 1949 Communist revolution, clung to power for 27 years.
cling to the hope that (=keep hoping that something will happen, even though it seems unlikely)
▪ They clung to the hope that one day a cure would be found.
cling to your ideals (=continue to believe that something is good or right even when it does not seem to be like this in real life)
▪ He is a man who still clings to ideals of loyalty and friendship.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
desperately
▪ She was clinging desperately to the hang-glider.
▪ These few will desperately cling to traditional structures and culture.
▪ She was clinging desperately to normality and self-respect.
▪ She drew him close, clinging desperately.
▪ The stairs have become rope ladders, with managers clinging desperately for balance.
▪ The faith that something would and must be done to save the city was desperately clung to....
▪ On the other were tenants clinging desperately to the last vestige of their community.
▪ As I rode a high wave I saw a small boy desperately clinging to a piece of board.
on
▪ Mr Harrison was slashed across the chest three times and stabbed, yet he clung on, trying to overpower the attacker.
▪ We can not become different beings by clinging on to our personalities as they were formerly.
▪ But then generals have not lost hope altogether of clinging on to power.
▪ Loi grabbed with both hands for a crossbar and clung on.
▪ Shares will boom and John Major will cling on by his fingertips.
▪ I clung on, raging inside at Feeley.
▪ Would she scream insults, or perhaps cling on to him for grim death and beg for another chance?
▪ I clung on to Hugh, the best on-stage partner I'd known.
still
▪ Whatever we do, they will still cling to their barbaric customs.
▪ Nevertheless, many people still cling to the vinyl disk as preferable.
▪ An astonished officer found him still clinging grimly to the controls as he trundled along at a snail's pace.
▪ Over east the yellow sun brimmed while along the western horizon the purple lip of night still clung.
▪ The woman in the blue raincoat fell to her knees, still clinging with one hand to the push-chair.
▪ At the time of the preliminary hearing in February, Maria was still clinging to life.
▪ Slowly but surely Carter are on the move again, still pertinent and still clinging to the plot.
▪ At some level they still cling to the idea that tender loving care is the only factor in raising kids.
tenaciously
▪ This wonderful diverse stretch of woodland clings tenaciously to the almost precipitous sides of the gorge.
▪ Parliament has, however, attempted to cling tenaciously to its role in the scrutiny of the implementation of that policy.
▪ All that has once lived clings tenaciously to life.
▪ Nevertheless, the modern law of contracts tenaciously clings to the liberal ideal of individual autonomy.
to
▪ And then towards the end of his life when he was already ill, he had one last hope to cling to.
▪ Even the most dismal and unstable circumstances can become something to be clung to.
▪ He was slipping, the door he clung to was swaying, and the debris below was anticipating.
▪ It is a terrible thing to be clung to by a sick child if you are not used to it.
▪ At least we have one consolation to cling to.
▪ There were great rocks on the road and thin mist seemed to cling to everywhere.
▪ Well ... the thing to cling to is that everything like this is still decentralised.
▪ Now it seemed there was nothing at all to cling to.
together
▪ A great noise rises out of the quiet, and the stars are like bits of metal clinging together.
▪ We clung together for warmth and vowed to love one another more than anyone else for all time.
▪ We clung together, breathless, until we had to pause for breath.
▪ One minute they were sworn enemies, the next they were clinging together in fierce mutual desire.
▪ As they clung together in that unutterable pleasure, he felt that they were defying everything that had persecuted them.
■ NOUN
arm
▪ Nina watched as Carys, clinging to the arms of her Sam, face radiant with relief, disappeared into her house.
▪ She clung to Jacob's arm, saw him spirited away on a tide of compliments.
▪ Candace Rainford was clinging to his arm and he did not look as if he minded in the slightest.
▪ Dieter Erdle had just arrived with Rose Kettle clinging to his arm.
belief
▪ Ursula was clinging to the belief that Samantha would soon be released.
▪ Reagan clung to the belief that he was not paying ransom but merely rewarding an intermediary for services rendered.
body
▪ To call the bit of silk that clung to her body a dress was ridiculous.
▪ She sat rigidly in her seat, her clothes clinging wetly to her body, and waited for him to retaliate.
hand
▪ The woman in the blue raincoat fell to her knees, still clinging with one hand to the push-chair.
▪ I clung to her hand, offering her a mooring line in that churning sea of grief.
▪ John came down the stairs with Ben, who clung to his hand.
▪ All he saw as he glanced at her was his little wife, shy as a fieldmouse, clinging to his hand.
▪ The way the pastry mixture clung to your hands if you mixed it with too much water.
▪ Joan saw a little girl of eight or nine years, eyeing her alertly and clinging to David's hand.
▪ A little mud clings to the infant hand but otherwise it is perfect.
▪ They could not get the strap she was clinging to out of her hand.
hope
▪ She had clung to the hope even for that length of time, but it had never happened.
▪ Last night both men were clinging to the vain hope of salvaging their jobs and refused to comment before today's hearing.
idea
▪ Times were not good, we had basically clung to outdated ideas and we were on the verge of closing.
▪ She further offended doctors by clinging to patently wrong ideas.
▪ They could, with one part of their mind, cling to the idea of teacher autonomy.
▪ Will the West cling to the idea of universal worth while selfishly consuming Arab oil wealth and closing its borders to Arabs?
▪ For the moment I cling to the idea that there are a relatively small number of cell-to-cell signals.
▪ At some level they still cling to the idea that tender loving care is the only factor in raising kids.
▪ All men go through life clinging to an idea of an earthly paradise.
life
▪ This wasn't easy either, because she was spooked and was clinging for dear life to the poor kid's hair.
▪ Converse lay clinging to earth and life, his mouth full of sweet grass.
▪ She still clung to life by some unknown strength of character and Fon loved her for it.
▪ How she had clung to life in the last ten years.
▪ Although appearing to be clinging precariously to life, once introduced to the pool they quickly produce roots and become established.
▪ In such a state only a coward clings to life.
▪ It turns on to its side and as I cling on for dear life I hear a startled cry from Nathan.
▪ Luckily, he landed on some rocks, where he clung for his life.
notion
▪ Now, suddenly, those who clung to these notions were thrown on to the defensive and soon outnumbered.
▪ The chain made up an organization that was clinging to an outmoded notion of its own uniqueness.
power
▪ But then generals have not lost hope altogether of clinging on to power.
▪ Like Mao before him, Deng doggedly clung to power, despite becoming less mentally sharp in his final years.
▪ Only a month ago, Mr Major gave the impression of clinging to power.
▪ He clings to power largely because his Sunni-dominated army is afraid of the revenge that would befall it if he fell.
rock
▪ The alarm was raised by a passer-by who heard one of the youngsters, clinging to rocks, shouting for help.
▪ These cling to rocks, stones, or roots and forms a mat of bright to deep green tufts.
side
▪ I ran across the road and jumped up, clinging to the side of the phaeton.
▪ The batter must be able to cling to the side of the pan.
▪ Onward and upward the track wound, clinging to the side of the ridge like a pale slippery centipede.
▪ I cling to her; my sister, Beate, clings to her other side.
▪ The atmosphere of grey repression that clung to the eastern side of the city is being purged at an astonishing speed.
▪ A flame roared under a black bucket, clean blue like a blowtorch clinging to one side.
▪ He clung to the sides of the basket with all his strength and tried not to look down.
wall
▪ But the only thing there was a fragile gecko, which clung splay-footed to the wall and watched me with cloudy eyes.
▪ The traditionalists who cling to uptight Wall Street business wardrobes and rooms full of Hepplewhite reproductions are exiled to style Siberia.
▪ Well-thumbed magazine pictures of body-builders cling to the wall.
▪ Balconies cling to walls like frightened climbers.
▪ Even the drainpipes, clinging half-heartedly to cracked walls and rusty gutters, looked as if they'd had enough.
▪ But it was his left hand that collided with something in the dark, an object that was clinging to the wall.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ A customary error committed by aquarists is to cling to the opinion that the Aponogeton species do not require a rich soil.
▪ Denial, too, seemed to be an effort to cling to hope.
▪ His pink shirt clinging to the curve of his belly.
▪ She flung out her arms to steady herself, clinging to him.
▪ She was lying on her side and Hugh was on his side also, clinging to her back, as though for protection.
▪ Why cling to the rebel cross?
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Cling

Cling \Cling\, n. Adherence; attachment; devotion. [R.]

A more tenacious cling to worldly respects.
--Milton.

Cling

Cling \Cling\ (kl[i^]ng), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Clung (kl[u^]ng), Clong (kl[o^]ng), Obs.); p. pr. & vb. n. Clinging.] [AS. clingan to adhere, to wither; akin to Dan. klynge to cluster, crowd. Cf. Clump.] To adhere closely; to stick; to hold fast, especially by twining round or embracing; as, the tendril of a vine clings to its support; -- usually followed by to or together.

And what hath life for thee That thou shouldst cling to it thus?
--Mrs. Hemans.

Cling

Cling \Cling\, v. t.

  1. To cause to adhere to, especially by twining round or embracing. [Obs.]

    I clung legs as close to his side as I could.
    --Swift.

  2. To make to dry up or wither. [Obs.]

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

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
cling

Old English clingan "hold fast, adhere closely; congeal, shrivel" (strong verb, past tense clang, past participle clungen), from Proto-Germanic *klingg- (cognates: Danish klynge "to cluster;" Old High German klinga "narrow gorge;" Old Norse klengjask "press onward;" Danish klinke, Dutch klinken "to clench;" German Klinke "latch").\n

\nThe main sense shifted in Middle English to "adhere to" (something else), "stick together." Of persons in embrace, c.1600. Figuratively (to hopes, outmoded ideas, etc.), from 1580s. Of clothes from 1792. Related: Clung; clinging.

Wiktionary
cling

n. 1 fruit (especially peach) whose flesh adheres strongly to the pit. 2 adherence; attachment; devotion vb. 1 (senseid en hold tightly)To hold very tightly, as to not fall off. 2 To adhere to an object, without being affixed, in such a way as to follow its contours. Used especially of fabrics and films. 3 (context transitive English) To cause to adhere to, especially by twining round or embracing. 4 (context transitive English) To cause to dry up or wither. 5 (context figurative with preposition to English) to be fond of, to feel strongly about

WordNet
cling
  1. n. fruit (especially peach) whose flesh adheres strongly to the pit [syn: clingstone]

  2. [also: clung]

cling
  1. v. come or be in close contact with; stick or hold together and resist separation; "The dress clings to her body"; "The label stuck to the box"; "The sushi rice grains cohere" [syn: cleave, adhere, stick, cohere]

  2. to remain emotionally or intellectually attached; "He clings to the idea that she might still love him."

  3. hold on tightly or tenaciously; "hang on to your father's hands"; "The child clung to his mother's apron" [syn: hang]

  4. [also: clung]

Wikipedia
Cling

Cling may refer to:

  • "Cling," a song by Days of the New from their 1997 album Days of the New (also known as the "Orange album")
  • Static cling, a natural phenomenon when things stick together caused by static electricity, usually due to rubbing as in a clothes dryer (the Triboelectric effect)
  • Clinging, the English translation of Upādāna, a word used in both Buddhism and Hinduism.
  • Johnny Cling, a common misspelling of Johnny Kling (1875-1947), a catcher in Major League Baseball for the Chicago Cubs, Boston Rustlers & Braves and Cincinnati Reds
  • Cling film or cling wrap, alternate terms for plastic wrap, a thin polymer material, roughly 0.004" to 0.006" (0.11 to 0.15mm) thick, typically used for sealing food items in containers to keep them fresh
  • Cling, the C++ interpreter (see also CINT)

Usage examples of "cling".

I pulled myself up and sat with feet adangle in the water, squeezing the wetness from my hair as I moved about upon the grass, seeking to halt its attempts to cling to my bottom.

They clung to their quaint customs and to their own little god, Adonai, despite his impotence before Marduk.

Further they are skilled with primitive weapons and have constructed an aesthetically spectacular village that clings to the cliffsides of a gorge, protected from the elements by shell-like canopies.

It found Charles still clinging to the remains of poor Aloysia, and bathing with kisses and tears the stiffened features of her beloved sister.

Wherever the Mafia had grown and prospered since Prohibition, these other savages were there as well, ever clinging to the shadows as the more flamboyant amici filled headlines and mortuaries, lending their advice and financial acumen where it was lacking in their Mafia comrades, Siegel, Buchalter, Cohen, Lansky.

Hundreds of years ago the Anasazi had looked out on the same land, smelled the same scent of wet earth and pinon, seen the glittering beauty of sunlight captured in a billion drops of water clinging to needles and boughs and the sheer face of the cliff itself.

With the anchorman clinging and leaning to the rope like a groom, the boat bucked like an angry horse, but they moved forward, creeping past the rough stone walls toward a small and distant patch of light.

On an alien planet like Anicca, people clung to such symbols ferociously.

Harry, animallike, attempted to cling to the shape of the Other as he fell, and so broke the impact of his landing.

It stretched around him, gluey, clinging, membranes of goo dividing into thin strings and sagging ropes that bound him with impossible things: wild fantasies of having been captured by a dozen Yuuzhan Vong warriors who all looked like Jacen Solo, mad images of sacrifice and aliens and Jaina and that Nom Anor character.

And lower down the great forest trees arch over it, and the sunbeams trickle through them, and dance in many a quiet pool, turning the far-down sands to gold, brightening majestic tree-ferns, and shining on the fragile polypodium tamariscinum which clings tremblingly to the branches of the graceful waringhan, on a beautiful lygodium which adorns the uncouth trunk of an artocarpus, on glossy ginger-worts and trailing yams, on climbers and epiphytes, and on gigantic lianas which, climbing to the tops of the tallest trees, descend in vast festoons, many of them with orange and scarlet flowers and fruitage, passing from tree to tree, and interlacing the forest with a living network, while selaginellas and lindsayas, and film ferns, and trichomanes radicans drape the rocks in feathery green, along with mosses scarcely distinguishable from ferns.

Though some asps always clung, others were kicked off and thus emitted from the Asp.

But still, in spite of all, the Indians clung to their priests -- as they said, from affection for the religious care they had bestowed, but quite as possibly from the instinctive knowledge that, between the raiding Portuguese and the maddening patriots in Asuncion, their only safeguard against slavery lay in the Jesuits.

As in other Atlantan districts of London, Feed lines had been worked into the sinews of the place, coursing through utility tunnels, clinging to the clammy undersides of bridges, and sneaking into buildings through small holes bored in the foundations.

He, too, was garbed in the same black blackness as the flesh of the horse, as if he had stepped from some Avernal lake and its waters clung to him, becoming satin, and metal.