CLING (clung)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected form: clung   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does cling mean? 

• CLING (noun)
  The noun CLING has 1 sense:

1. fruit (especially peach) whose flesh adheres strongly to the pit

  Familiarity information: CLING used as a noun is very rare.

• CLING (verb)
  The verb CLING has 3 senses:

1. come or be in close contact with; stick or hold together and resist separation

2. to remain emotionally or intellectually attached

3. hold on tightly or tenaciously

  Familiarity information: CLING used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CLING (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Fruit (especially peach) whose flesh adheres strongly to the pit

Classified under:

Nouns denoting foods and drinks

Synonyms:

cling; clingstone

Hypernyms ("cling" is a kind of...):

edible fruit (edible reproductive body of a seed plant especially one having sweet flesh)

• CLING (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they cling    ... he / she / it clings   
Past simple: clung   
Past participle: clung   
-ing form: clinging   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Come or be in close contact with; stick or hold together and resist separation

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

adhere; cleave; cling; cohere; stick

Context example:

The sushi rice grains cohere

Hypernyms (to "cling" is one way to...):

adjoin; contact; meet; touch (be in direct physical contact with; make contact)

"Cling" entails doing...:

attach (become attached)

Verb group:

adhere; bind; bond; hold fast; stick; stick to (stick to firmly)

stick (fasten with an adhesive material like glue)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "cling"):

mold (fit tightly, follow the contours of)

conglutinate (stick together)

agglutinate (clump together; as of bacteria, red blood cells, etc.)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Something is ----ing PP
Somebody ----s PP

Sense 2

Meaning:

To remain emotionally or intellectually attached

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Context example:

He clings to the idea that she might still love him.

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Sense 3

Meaning:

Hold on tightly or tenaciously

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Synonyms:

cling; hang

Context example:

The child clung to his mother's apron

Hypernyms (to "cling" is one way to...):

grasp; hold on (hold firmly)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something
Somebody ----s PP

 Context examples 

And the marvel of it was that still he lived and clung to life.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

She clung the closer to him, but neither lifted up her face, nor spoke a word.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Grey Beaver was his own particular god, and, in spite of Grey Beaver's will, White Fang still clung to him and would not give him up.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

Clinging to the gee-pole with his right band and with his left rubbing cheeks and nose, he stumbled over the rope as the dogs swung on a bend.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

He slipped through it, and when I tried to cling to Him, He raised me up and flung me down.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

He had left them completely frightened; and Harriet eagerly clinging to him, and hardly able to speak, had just strength enough to reach Hartfield, before her spirits were quite overcome.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

I know where your heart turns and to what it clings.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

“They clung to the inside and stuck together. When we did the same experiment with sand and volcanic ash using Earth-like conditions, all of it came out. Nothing stuck.”

('Electric Sands' Cover Titan, VOA News)

It clings to the mind when it has once seized on it like a lichen on the rock.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

See how soft the dried leaves are under your feet and how rich and green the moss is that clings to these old trees.

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)