clamp
/ˈklæmp/
Frequency: 3.45 in modern English
Meaning
noun
An instrument used to temporarily shut off blood vessels, etc.
noun
A parking enforcement device used to immobilise a car until it can be towed or a fine is paid; a wheel clamp.
British usage
noun
A pile of materials to be heated in a controlled way, stacked or heaped together with fuel so that the fire permeates the pile; the material of interest may be bricks to be fired, ore for roasting, coal for coking, or wood to be charcoalized.
noun
A compact pile of agricultural produce (such as root vegetables or silage) used for temporary storage (often covered with straw, earth, or both).
noun
An electronic circuit that fixes either the positive or the negative peak excursions of a signal to a defined value by shifting its DC value.
verb
To fasten in place or together with (or as if with) a clamp.
Intransitive verb; Transitive verb
Example Sentences
- "[T]he pots would be stacked in a heap, covered with wood chippings and brushwood and domed over with turves, leaving a few air vents around the sides. When complete the clamp would be fired[.]"
- "As we burst into the room, the Count turned his face, and the hellish look that I had heard described seemed to leap into it. His eyes flamed red with devilish passion. The great nostrils of the white aquiline nose opened wide and quivered at the edge, and the white sharp teeth, behind the full lips of the blood dripping mouth, clamped together like those of a wild beast."
- "After the depth range is clamped, the depth value is read from the depth stencil buffer, and the two values are compared with a selectable depth-comparison function […]"
- "I was only parked there for five minutes but my car was still clamped."
- "the policeman with clamping feet"
Etymology
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: clamp, *klampō