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
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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No stain clung to an aviator more than a blue-on-blue kill.
Scott Speicher 2002
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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"Everything, Dale," the name clung uncertainly upon the speaker's lips;
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The days that followed dispelled the illusion, but the name clung to him.
The Gay Cockade Temple Bailey
hernesheir commented on the word clung
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