clamp

[klamp]

noun

a device, usually of some rigid material, for strengthening or supporting objects or fastening them together.

an appliance with opposite sides or parts that may be adjusted or brought closer together to hold or compress something.

one of a pair of movable pieces, made of lead or other soft material, for covering the jaws of a vise and enabling it to grasp without bruising.

Also called clamp rail. Carpentry. a rail having a groove or a number of mortises for receiving the ends of a number of boards to bind them into a flat piece, as a drawing board or door.

Nautical.

a horizontal timber in a wooden hull, secured to ribs to support deck beams and to provide longitudinal strength.
mast clamp.

verb (used with object)

to fasten with or fix in a clamp.

Verb Phrases

clamp down, to become more strict: There were too many tax loopholes, so the government clamped down.

clamp down on, to impose or increase controls on.

Origin of clamp

1350–1400; Middle English (noun) < Middle Dutch clampe clamp, cleat; cognate with Middle Low German klampe

Related formsun·clamped, adjective

Synonyms for clamp

6. clinch, clench, secure.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for clamping

impose, clench, grip, snap, nipper, lock, vice, catch, bracket, press, hold, clasp, fix, clinch, brace, secure

Examples from the Web for clamping

Contemporary Examples of clamping

Some people talk, for example, of clamping down on sales of types of ammo.
How We Can Regulate Guns Using the Second Amendment
Michael Tomasky
December 18, 2012
Reform entitlements by clamping down on payments to suppliers and providers?
Fiscal Cliff Hostage Situation Day 22: What Business Community, President Obama?
Daniel Gross
November 28, 2012
America has spent tens of billions of dollars in a basically futile effort to coax Islamabad into clamping down on the Taliban.
The U.S. and Pakistan: Can This Marriage Be Saved?
Ron Moreau
April 3, 2012

Historical Examples of clamping

Or I poked people in the back with the frames while I was clamping them.
Working With the Working Woman
Cornelia Stratton Parker
There was a mouse swelling above his eye, the lids were clamping.
Rimrock Trail
J. Allan Dunn
D the important features of such a method of clamping will be understood.
Toy Craft
Leon H. Baxter
The clamping device for the slide is made of two bars, 1 in.
The Boy Mechanic, Book 2
Various
"With difficulty," Petra said, taking another step and clamping her teeth.
Captives of the Flame
Samuel R. Delany

British Dictionary definitions for clamping

clamp

noun

a mechanical device with movable jaws with which an object can be secured to a bench or with which two objects may be secured together

verb (tr)

to fix or fasten with or as if with a clamp

to immobilize (a car) by means of a wheel clamp

to inflict or impose forcefullythey clamped a curfew on the town

Word Origin for clamp

C14: from Dutch or Low German klamp; related to Old English clamm bond, fetter, Old Norse kleppr lump

clamp

noun

a mound formed out of a harvested root crop, covered with straw and earth to protect it from winter weather

a pile of bricks ready for processing in a furnace

verb

(tr) to enclose (a harvested root crop) in a mound

Word Origin for clamp

C16: from Middle Dutch klamp heap; related to clump

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for clamping

clamp

device for fastening, c.1300, probably from clamb, perhaps originally past tense of climb (v.), or from Middle Dutch clampe (Dutch klamp), from West Germanic *klamp- "clamp, cleat;" cf. Middle Low German klampe "clasp, hook," Old High German klampfer "clip, clamp;" also probably related to Middle Dutch klamme "a clamp, hook, grapple," Danish klamme "a clamp, cramp," Old English clamm "fetter;" see clam (n.).

clamp

"to fasten with a clamp," 1670s, from clamp (n.). Related: Clamped; clamping.

clamping in Medicine

clamp

[klămp]

n.

An instrument for the compression or grasping of a structure.