clamp

Meanings

Noun

• A brace, band, or clasp for strengthening or holding things together.
• An instrument used to temporarily shut off blood vessels, etc.
• A parking enforcement device used to immobilise a car until it can be towed or a fine is paid; a wheel clamp.
• A mass of bricks heaped up to be burned; or of ore for roasting, or of coal coking.
• A pile of agricultural produce such as root vegetables or silage stored under a layer of earth or an airtight sheet.
• A piece of wood (batten) across the grain of a board end to keep it flat, as in a breadboard.
• 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.
• A heavy footstep; a tramp.

Verb

• To fasten in place or together with (or as if with) a clamp.
• To hold or grip tightly.
• To modify (a numeric value) so it lies within a specific range.
• To cover (vegetables, etc.) with earth.
• To immobilise (a vehicle) by means of a wheel clamp.
• To tread heavily or clumsily; to clump or clomp.

Origin

• From Middle Dutch clamp, klampe, from Proto-Germanic *klampō ("clamp, clasp, cramp"). Cognate with Middle Low German klampe ("hook, clasp"), German Klampfe, Klampe, Norwegian klamp ("clamp"), Alemannic German Chlempi.
• Imitative.