clem
English
Pronunciation
Etymology 1
Compare clam (“to clog”), or German klemmen (“to jam, clamp; to be stuck, adhere (to a surface)”), Icelandic klmbra, English clamp.
Verb
clem (third-person singular simple present clems, present participle clemming, simple past and past participle clemmed)
- (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!"
- 1889, Amelia Edith Huddleston Barr, Between Two Loves, Ch. VI, p. 110:
- To stick, adhere.
References
Etymology 2
Possibly from clementine, a small round citrus fruit.
Noun
clem (plural clems)
References
- “clem”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.