Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Preterit and past participle of cling.
  • To cling.
  • To shrink; waste.
  • Shrunken; emaciated; wasted to leanness; shrunk.
  • [Cf. strong as related to string.] Strong.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • imp. & p. p. of cling.
  • adjective obsolete Wasted away; shrunken.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb Simple past of cling.
  • verb Past participle of cling
  • adjective obsolete wasted away; shrunken

Etymologies

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Examples

  • No stain clung to an aviator more than a blue-on-blue kill.

    Scott Speicher 2002

  • Nevertheless, his companions called him King Ole, and the name clung to him throughout all his wanderings.

    Olaf the Glorious A Story of the Viking Age Robert Leighton

  • And, as so often happened in those days, the nickname clung to him, so that while his family name is almost forgotten he is still known as

    Knights of Art; stories of the Italian painters Amy Steedman

  • The name clung for many years to a country embraced within the present limits of New England, and sometimes included Nova Scotia.

    Canada J. G. Bourinot

  • But one day Flibbertigibbet -- so Sister Angelica called the little girl from her first coming to the Asylum, and the name clung to her -- was sent to the infirmary in the upper story because of a slight illness; while there she made the discovery of the "Marchioness."

    Flamsted quarries Mary E. Waller

  • Once, somebody who saw him trying to mend a hole in the baby's petticoat called him "Sissy," and the name clung; for a time the school yard rang with shouts of "Sissy Carter."

    Stories Worth Rereading Various

  • Ireland, it came to be said that the Mollie Maguires had done it, and so the name clung to them.

    Derrick Sterling A Story of the Mines Kirk Monroe

  • The road he followed was called a high road, but the name clung to it from old use rather than because of present service.

    Jack Haydon's Quest John Finnemore

  • "Everything, Dale," the name clung uncertainly upon the speaker's lips;

    Joyce of the North Woods

  • The days that followed dispelled the illusion, but the name clung to him.

    The Gay Cockade Temple Bailey

Comments

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  • Closed up or stopped, spoken of hens that do not lay, and commonly used for any thing that is shriveled or shrunk. - an old provincial term from the north of England.

    In Norfolk this term meant soft, flabby, relaxed.

    May 2, 2011