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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

clamp.

A brace, band, or clasp for strengthening or holding things that are apart together.

5 characters1 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈklæmp/[ˈkʰlæmp]/ˈkleə̯mp/[ˈkʰleə̯mp]
  1. A brace, band, or clasp for strengthening or holding things that are apart together.

  2. An instrument used to temporarily shut off blood vessels, etc.

  3. A parking enforcement device used to immobilise a car until it can be towed or a fine is paid; a wheel clamp.

    UK
  4. A pile of materials to be heated in a controlled way, stacked or heaped together with fuel so that the fire permeates the pile; the material of interest may be bricks to be fired, ore for roasting, coal for coking, or wood to be charcoalized.

  5. A compact pile of agricultural produce (such as root vegetables or silage) used for temporary storage (often covered with straw, earth, or both).

  6. A piece of wood (batten) across the grain of a board end to keep it flat, as in a breadboard.

  7. An electronic circuit that fixes either the positive or the negative peak excursions of a signal to a defined value by shifting its DC value.

Where this word comes from

From Middle Dutch clamp, klampe (“a clamp, hook”), from Proto-Germanic *klampō (“clamp, clasp, cramp”), related to Proto-West Germanic *klammjan. Cognate with Middle Low German klampe (“hook, clasp”), German Klampfe, Klampe (“clamp, cleat”), Norwegian klamp (“clamp”), Alemannic German Chlempi.

verb/ˈklæmp/[ˈkʰlæmp]/ˈkleə̯mp/[ˈkʰleə̯mp]
  1. To fasten in place or together with (or as if with) a clamp.

    intransitive · transitive
  2. To hold or grip tightly.

    transitive
  3. To modify (a numeric value) so it lies within a specific range by replacing values outside the range with the closest value within the range.

    transitive
  4. To cover (vegetables, etc.) with earth.

    UK · obsolete · transitive
  5. To immobilise (a vehicle) by means of a wheel clamp.

    transitive
    I was only parked there for five minutes but my car was still clamped.
Where this word comes from

From Middle Dutch clamp, klampe (“a clamp, hook”), from Proto-Germanic *klampō (“clamp, clasp, cramp”), related to Proto-West Germanic *klammjan. Cognate with Middle Low German klampe (“hook, clasp”), German Klampfe, Klampe (“clamp, cleat”), Norwegian klamp (“clamp”), Alemannic German Chlempi.

noun/ˈklæmp/[ˈkʰlæmp]/ˈkleə̯mp/[ˈkʰleə̯mp]
  1. A heavy footstep; a tramp.

    dated
Where this word comes from

Imitative.

verb/ˈklæmp/[ˈkʰlæmp]/ˈkleə̯mp/[ˈkʰleə̯mp]
  1. To tread heavily or clumsily; to clump or clomp.

    dated · intransitive
Where this word comes from

Imitative.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.