clasp

plural clasps

1. countableA device with interlocking parts used for fastening things together, such as a fastener or a holder.

   I always have a hard time working the clasp on this necklace!

2. countableA bar or insignia on a medal ribbon, to either indicate an additional award of the medal, or the action or service for which it was awarded.
3. uncountableAn embrace, a grasp, or handshake.

   He took her hand in a firm clasp.

   1 more example

   How few! yet how they creep / Through my fingers to the deep, / While I weep—while I weep! / O God! can I not grasp / Them with a tighter clasp?

   1849 March 31, Edgar Allan Poe, “A Dream Within a Dream”, in The Works of the Late Edgar Allan Poe: […], volumes II (Poems and Miscellanies), New York, N.Y.: J. S. Redfield, […], published 1850, →OCLC, page 40

present singular third person clasps · participle present clasping · participle past clasped · past clasped

1. transitiveTo take hold of; to grasp.

   They clasped hands and parted as friends.

   2 more examples

   And when the Boy dropped off to sleep, the Rabbit would snuggle down close under his little warm chin and dream, with the Boy's hands clasped close round him all night long.

   1922, Margery Williams, The Velveteen Rabbit

   The poor dear lady shivered, and I could see the tension of her nerves as she clasped her husband closer to her and bent her head lower and lower still on his breast.

   1897, Bram Stoker, Dracula, Westminster [London]: Archibald Constable and Company, […], →OCLC

   Synonyms: begrip

2. transitiveTo shut or fasten together with, or as if with, a clasp.

   Synonyms: attach

3. intransitiveobsoleterareTo cling.