clem
verb (used with or without object)
to starve.
clem
1 American
[klem]
/ klɛm /
verb (used with or without object)
British Dialect.
clemmed,
clemming
Clem
2
American
[klem]
/ klɛm /
noun
clem
British
/ klɛm /
verb
Etymology
Origin of clem
1530–40; akin to Middle English forclemmed (past participle) pinched with hunger, Old English beclemman to fetter
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
We're but where we was; and I'll break stones on th' road afore I let these little uns clem.'
From North and South by Gaskell, Elizabeth Cleghorn
In these places of Jonson, clem is usually rendered starve; but it appears to me, from the kindred of the term, that it is used elliptically.
From Notes and Queries, Number 191, June 25, 1853 A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc. by Bell, George
What, will he clem me and my followers? ask him an he will clem me; do, go.
From The Poetaster by Jonson, Ben
"Work or clem," that were what Tom allays tould me th' ould bell were sayin'.
From The Atlantic Book of Modern Plays by Leonard, Sterling Andrus
Union says strike, and you hev to strike whether you like it or whether you don’t like it, and clem till it’s over.”
From Patience Wins War in the Works by Fenn, George Manville
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
