clem

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See also: Clem, Clém, and Clem.

English

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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Inherited from Middle English *clemmen, *clammen, from Old English clemman, clæmman (to press, surround), from Proto-West Germanic *klammjan (to squeeze).

Cognate with Dutch klemmen (to jam, pinch, stick), German klemmen (to jam, clamp; to be stuck, stick [to a surface]).

Alternative forms

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Verb

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clem (third-person singular simple present clems, present participle clemming, simple past and past participle clemmed)

  1. (UK, dialect, transitive or intransitive) To be hungry; starve.
    • 1889, Amelia Edith Huddleston Barr, Between Two Loves, Ch. VI, p. 110:
      " [] Here he's back home again, and without work, and without a penny, and thou knows t' little one and I were pretty well clemmed to death when thou got us a bit o' bread and meat last night. We were that!"
    • 1919, Stanley J. Weyman, “IX. Old Things”, in The Great House:
      Who are half clemmed from year’s end to year’s end, and see no close to it, no hope, no finish but the pauper’s deals!
References
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Etymology 2

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Possibly from clementine, a small round citrus fruit.

Noun

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clem (plural clems)

  1. (Geordie, vulgar, slang) A testicle.

References

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Etymology 3

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Verb

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clem (third-person singular simple present clems, present participle clemming, simple past and past participle clemmed)

  1. Alternative form of clam (to adhere)

Anagrams

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