clasper
(ˈklɑːspə(r), -æ-)
[f. as prec. + -er1.]
1. One who or that which clasps; a means for holding fast: often used more or less technically.
| 1551 Turner Herbal i. L ij a, The clasperes of the fyshe called polypus. 1712 Derham in Phil. Trans. XXVII. 523 The two Claspers of the Micrometer. 1859 Carpenter Anim. Phys. xii. (1872) 483 They may be more appropriately termed claspers than hands. 1869 Clifford in Eng. Mech. 24 Dec. 345/2 The ‘false legs’ [of caterpillars]—more generally denominated ‘claspers’, by naturalists of our day. |
b. Bot. A tendril of a climbing plant.
| 1577 Googe Heresb. Husb. (1586) i. 38. 1578 Lyte Dodoens iii. xlvi. 380 White Brionie is something like unto the common Vine in his leaves and Claspers. 1671 Grew Anat. Plants i. iii. App. §3. 1691 Ray Creation (1714) 111 Other species..furnished with Claspers and Tendrils. a 1722 Lisle Husb. (1752) 198 The claspers of the peas had taken hold of it. 1823 J. Badcock Dom. Amusem. 55 The claspers of briony shoot spirally. |
c. Zool. in pl. Appendages of the male of certain fishes and insects, serving to hold the female.
| 1839–47 Todd Cycl. Anat. III. 910/1 In some insects..the penis..is associated with special organs, termed claspers, which assist in the impregnating act. 1855 Owen Comp. Anat. xii. (L.), The claspers are present in the chimæroid fishes as well as in the plagiostomes. 1880 Gunther Fishes 348 The males are provided with ‘claspers’ in connection with the ventral fins. |
2. One who makes clasps; one who fits books with clasps.
| 1885 Bookseller 5 Mar. 307 Publishers' bookbinders, book mounters and claspers. |