dial. [app. f. CLAM sb.1 in sense of clutch.] To clutch with the hand, grasp, grope.
1822. Galt, Steam-Boat, 301 (Jam.). I felt, as I thought, a hand claming over the bed-clothes.
1877. N. W. Linc. Gloss. (E. D. S.), s.v., He clammed howd on her or she’d hev tippled into th’ warpin’ drëan.
1886. S.-W. Linc. Gloss., s.v., He clammed hold on the mane.
1879. Jamieson, s.v. Clam, To claum or glaum, is to grope or grasp as in the dark.
