Pa. t. and pa. pple. clung. Forms: 1 cling-an, 2–5 cling-e(n, 4–5 clyng-e(n, -yn), 4–6 clinge, 4 clyng, 4– cling. Pa. t. 1–5 (and in north. dial. 1–9) clang, (4 clange); pl. 1 clungon, 2–5 -e(n; sing. and pl. 4–6 clong, clonge, 6– clung. Pa. pple. 1–5 clungen, (1 ʓe-, 3–4 i-, 4–5 -yn, -un), 4–5 clongen, -yn, -un, 4–6 clunge, clong, 6 cloung, 4– clung. Weak pa. t. and pple. 7–8, dial. 9 clinged, -’d. [OE. clingan, clang, clungen, str. vb., also in E.Fris. klingen and klinken (klunk, klunken), used precisely in our sense 2 (Doornkaat-Koolman II. 261). Cf. also dial. Ger. sich klinken to fasten oneself on, to cling to, Da. klynge sig to gather in clusters, crowd together; further MHG. klingen to climb, clamber (Grimm, s.v. klimmen 1168), and Sw. klänge to climb, klänge a tendril. These all point to a strong stem klink- varying with kling-, the former giving the causal derivative klankjan, OE. clenç(e)an, CLENCH, and the latter appearing in OE. cling-an. The original sense was evidently ‘to stick fast,’ whence our early senses ‘stick together,’ ‘shrink together,’ and the later ‘stick or cleave to.’ Cf. CLENCH, CLINK v.2
For the double stem-form clink-, cling-, cf. the same under the echoic CLINK v.1; also OE. cringan, crinkan to CRINGE, scringan, scrinkan to SHRINK.
† 1. intr. To adhere together in a stiff or firm mass: said of the freezing or congealing of liquids, the hardening of clay by drought, etc. Obs.
[a. 800. Corpus Gloss., 1744. Rigentia, forclingendu.]
a. 1000. Andreas, 1262 (Gr.). Clang wateres þrym ofer eastreamas, is brycʓade blæce brimrade.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 4699. Þe erth it clang, for drught and hete.
c. 1300. K. Alis., 915. Theo sunne ariseth … Theo nessche clay hit makith clyng. Ibid., 2903. Mury hit is in sonne-risyng!… Weyes fairith, the clayes clyng.
c. 1485. E. Eng. Misc. (Warton Club), 8. I clynge as dothe a whettyne cake.
1382. Wyclif, Job xxxviii. 38. Whanne was pouder held in the erthe, and clottis weren clunge togidere?
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), I. 63. Idried and iclunge by hete of the sonne.
a. 1400. Leg. Rood (1871), 142. In cloddres of blod his her was clunge.
1490. Orolog. Sapient., in Anglia, X. 372. The erthe þat is byfore clongen with þe colde froste of wynter?
1577. B. Googe, Heresbach’s Husb., II. (1586), 110 b. A hard knoppe of flesh being clong and rolled up in it selfe.
c. A relic of this survives in cling together, which however passes into later senses.
1577. B. Googe, Heresbach’s Husb., III. (1586), 156 b. His bodie is leane, and more clong together then it was woont to bee.
1607. Topsell, Four-f. Beasts (1673), 276. Driving the Horse into a sweat … whereby his lips are clung together.
1774. Goldsm., Nat. Hist. (1776), VI. 64. Like bunches of grapes, clung to each other.
1860. Tyndall, Glac., I. § 11. 84. When I endeavoured to squeeze it [snow], so as to fill my flask, it at first refused to cling together.
2. Applied to the drawing together or shrinking and shrivelling up of animal or vegetable tissues, when they lose their juices under the influence of heat, cold, hunger, thirst, disease, age; to become ‘drawn,’ to shrink up, wither, decay. Obs. exc. dial.
a. of the living human body.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Gram., xxxv. (Z.), 212. Marceo, ic clinge, marcesco.
a. 1250. Owl & Night., 743. Nu þu miht ule sitte and clinge.
c. 1305. Pilate, 222, in E. E. P. (1862), 117. Nou ic her clynge awei.
c. 1340. Richard Rolle of Hampole, Prick of Conscience, 823. His fete waxes calde, his bely clynges.
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. XIV. 50. Whan þow clomsest for colde or clyngest for drye.
c. 1380. Sir Ferumb., 2524. For betere is ous forto die amonges our fos in fiȝte, þan her-inne clynge & drie & daye for hunger riȝte.
a. 1400. Cov. Myst., 54 (Mätz.). My hert doth clynge and cleve as clay.
1414. Brampton, Penit. Ps., lxxvii. (1842), 29. My bonys … clynge, and waxe alle drye.
† b. said of the dead body. (A favorite alliteration with clay and clod.) Obs.
c. 1325. E. E. Allit. P., A. 856. Oure corses in clottez clynge.
c. 1430. Hymns Virg. (1867), 85. In coold clay now schal y clinge. [See also e.]
† c. of plants. Obs.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 8764. Þis tre bigan to cling.
d. of timber or wood-work. Still in north. dial.
1747. R. Maxwell, Bee-master, 20 (Jam.). Some make covers like barrels, with iron-hoops around them: These covers cling, as we say, with the summer’s drought, then they drive the hoops strait, which makes them tight again.
1880. Antrim & Down Gloss. (E. D. S.), Cling, to shrink or contract, as wood in drying.
e. In all these uses the pa. pple. clungen, clung, was esp. frequent; it belonged orig. to the intr. sense, but it probably suggested the operation of an agent, and led the way to the later trans. construction (3). Cf. CLUNG ppl. a.
a. 1000. Sal. & Sat., 304 (Gr.). Beoð cealde ʓeclungene.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 20747. His arms war al clungen dri.
1414. Brampton, Penit. Ps., App. (1842), 52. That I be nouȝt in clottess clunge.
c. 1450. Erle Tolous, 494. Methynkyth thou fadyste all away, As man that ys clongyn in clay.
3. trans. † a. (from 1) To press together, compress. Obs.
1601. Holland, Pliny, I. 87. The Ocean of one coast, the Iberian sea on the other, do cling and presse the sides [of Spaine] togither.
b. To cause to adhere, attach, stick together. Still dial.
1606. Bp. Hall, Art Divine Medit., vi. 28–9. So are wee when our thoughts are clingd together by the world.
1698. Tyson, in Phil. Trans., XX. 120. I could observe them matted or cling’d together by a Yellowish Substance.
1805. Southey, Madoc in Azt., xii. His untrimm’d hair … With cotton cords intwisted, clung with gum.
1888. W. Somerset Word-bk., Cling, to stick together as with gum; to cause to adhere.
c. (from 2) To cause (the body, etc.) to shrink or draw together; to contract, shrivel, parch.
1540. Surrey, Poems, Ecclesiastes, v. (L.). Clings not his guts with niggish fare, To keep his chest withall.
1605. Shaks., Macb., V. v. 40. If thou speak’st false, Vpon the next Tree shall thou hang aliue Till Famine cling thee.
1816. Byron, Darkness, 50. Kept … famished men at bay Till hunger clung them.
4. intr. To adhere or stick to (some part, e.g., as skin or dried flesh to bone), as the result or accompaniment of shrivelling and contraction. (Also in pa. pple.)
a. 1300. Cursor M., 4569. Þair hidd was clongun [Gött. clungen] to þe ban, Sua lene sagh i neuer nan.
c. 1325. Metr. Hom. (1862), 88. His skin was klungen to the bane, For fleische upon him was thar nane.
1610. Markham, Masterp., I. lviii. 124. His belly will be clung vp to his backe, and his backe rising vp like a Camell.
1667. Milton, P. L., X. 512. His Armes clung to his Ribs … till down he fell A monstrous Serpent on his Belly prone.
5. intr. To adhere, stick fast, attach oneself firmly to, as by a glutinous surface, or by grasping with prehensile organs. (Now the leading sense.)
a. 1300. Cursor M., 5955 (Cott.). Hungre flees, sare bitand, þat bath þai clang on man and best. Ibid., 24204. Care clinges in mi hert cald.
1570. Levins, Manip., 135/35. To cling, clingere.
1583. Stanyhurst, Æneis, II. (Arb.), 60. Lyke dooues in tempest clinging fast closlye to geather.
1770. Goldsm., Des. Vill., 350. Silent bats in drowsy clusters cling.
1789. Wordsw., Evening Walk, 60. Inverted shrubs, and moss of gloomy green, Cling from the rocks.
1856. Kane, Arct. Expl., I. xxxii. 449. The broken ice clung to the rocks.
1871. Smiles, Boy’s Voy. Round World, xiv. (1875), 141. The quicksilver clings to the gold and forms an amalgam with it.
b. said of human beings with their arms.
1605. Shaks., Macb., I. ii. 8. As two spent Swimmers, that doe cling together, And choake their Art.
1615. Chapman, Odyss., X. (R.). All knew me; cling’d about me.
1759. Johnson, Rasselas, xxxvii. Wks. XI. 104. My maids clung round me and refused to be parted.
1817. Coleridge, Three Graves, xli. Dear Ellen did not weep at all, But closelier did she cling.
1839. Thirlwall, Greece, VIII. 87. He was despatched as he clung to an altar.
1842. Tennyson, Dora, 159. Then they clung about The old man’s neck.
c. of a garment, esp. when wet.
c. 1792. Sir J. Reynolds, Art Painting, Note 30 (R.). The disposing of the drapery, so as to appear to cling close round the limbs.
1814. Cary, Dante’s Inf., XXIII. 43. A single vest Clings round her limbs.
1883. G. Lloyd, Ebb & Flow, II. 256. His fisher’s coat dripping wet and clinging to his form.
d. transf. To be or remain close to, as if attached.
1842. Browning, In Gondola, 4. The very night is clinging Closer to Venice’ streets.
1860. Tyndall, Glac., I. § 18. 122. Some heavy clouds which clung to the mountains.
1865. Dickens, Mut. Fr., III. ii. The fog clings so.
1878. Bosw. Smith, Carthage, 239. [Thus] did Fabius follow his foe from place to place, always clinging to the hills.
6. fig. To adhere or cleave to, in attachment, fellowship, sympathy, practice or idea.
1583. Stanyhurst, Æneis, III. (Arb.), 72. Heee leaues thee conquourd, and clingd to the partye triumphant.
1631. Gouge, God’s Arrows, III. § 6. 195. The more fiercely Christians are assaulted, the more closely they will cling together.
1816. J. Wilson, City of Plague, II. ii. 28. Now your orphan hearts Will closer cling in your calamity.
1846. M’Culloch, Acc. Brit. Empire (1854), I. 537. The possession of land is in Ireland … the sine quâ non of existence. It is, therefore, clung, to with desperate tenacity.
1848. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., II. 107. They still … clung to the doctrine of nonresistance.
b. of things, habits, practices.
1680. Rochester, Poems, Alexis & Strephon (R.). As trees are by the bark embrac’d, Love to my soul doth cling.
1823. Lamb, Elia, Ser. II. vii. (1865), 276. Old attachments cling to her in spite of experience.
1870. E. Peacock, Ralf Skirl., III. 119. Their phrases … clung to his memory.
7. trans. (ellipt.) To cling to, clasp, embrace.
1607. Tourneur, Rev. Trag., I. iii. To slide from the mother … and cling the daughter in law.
1638. Heywood, Rape Lucr., Wks. 1874, V. 194. Temptations offered, I still scorne. Deny’d; I cling them still.
1583. Stanyhurst, Æneis, II. (Arb.), 58. They clinge thee scalinges too wals [hærent parietibus scalæ].
17[?]. Swift, Exam. Abuses in Dublin (Seager). I clung my legs as close to his sides as I could.
1738. G. Smith, Curious Relat., II. v. 153. Unmercifully clinging their Hands in a split Block. Ibid., 412. The People cling’d their Fingers of both their Hands between one another, holding the two Thumbs … close together.
a. 1774. Goldsm., trans. Scarron’s Comic Rom. (1775), I. 225. This made Ragotin cling his legs still more close to the horse’s sides.
9. Of doubtful meaning and position: ? To press, stick in; or possibly = CLINK v.1 7 b.
a. 1400[?]. Morte Arth., 1865. Sir Clegis clynges in, and clekes another.
