▪ I. clinging, vbl. n.
(ˈklɪŋɪŋ)
[f. cling v.1 + -ing1.]
1. The action of the vb. cling.
| 1572 J. Bossewell Armorie iii. 3 b, The clinging of the sayd Lyon hys tayle between hys legges. 1678 Rymer Trag. Last Age 43 These waylings, clingings, and beseechings. 1884 Freeman in Manch. Guard. 22 Sept., An Englishman's natural clingings to a long and unbroken political past. |
† 2. = clinching (of nails). Obs.
| 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts (1673) 323 Searching the hoof first with a hammer by knocking upon every clinging. |
▪ II. ˈclinging, ppl. a.
That clings; cleaving.
| a 1763 Shenstone Poems Wks. 1764 I. 106 The defenceless train Of clinging infants. 1810 Southey Kehama iii. x, A clinging curse. |
b. said of garments fitting close to the body.
| 1883 Harper's Mag. Feb. 403/1 The garments of the women were the reverse of ‘clinging’. 1884 E. P. Roe Ibid. June 97/1 Dressed in some light clinging fabric. |
Hence clingingly adv.; clingingness.
| 1865 E. C. Clayton Cruel Fortune I. 118 Val..nestled clingingly by his side. 1869 Contemp. Rev. XII. 126 The domestic clingingness and tender dependency. |