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Clamp vs Claw - What's the difference?

clamp | claw |

As nouns the difference between clamp and claw

is that clamp is a brace, band, or clasp for strengthening or holding things together while claw is a curved, pointed horny nail on each digit of the foot of a mammal, reptile, or bird.

As verbs the difference between clamp and claw

is that clamp is to fasten in place or together with (or as if with) a clamp while claw is to scratch or to tear at.

clamp

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • A brace, band, or clasp for strengthening or holding things together.
  • A mass of bricks heaped up to be burned; or of ore for roasting, or of coal coking.
  • A piece of wood (batten) across the grain of a board end to keep it flat, as in a breadboard.
  • A heavy footstep; a tramp.

    • Derived terms

    * clover clamp * nipple clamp

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (intransitive) To fasten in place or together with (or as if with) a clamp .
  • * 1897 , (Bram Stoker), (Dracula) Chapter 21
    • As we burst into the room, the Count turned his face, and the hellish look that I had heard described seemed to leap into it. His eyes flamed red with devilish passion. The great nostrils of the white aquiline nose opened wide and quivered at the edge, and the white sharp teeth, behind the full lips of the blood dripping mouth, clamped together like those of a wild beast.
  • To tread heavily or clumsily; to clump or clomp.
  • * Thackeray
    • The policeman with clamping feet.
  • To hold or grip tightly.
  • To modify a numeric value so it lies within a specific range.
  • (UK, obsolete, transitive) To cover (vegetables, etc.) with earth.

    • Derived terms

    * clamp down

    See also

    * clasp * vise, vice

    claw

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) clawe, from (etyl) clawu, from (etyl) . Compare West Frisian klau, Dutch klauw, German Klaue, Danish klo.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A curved, pointed horny nail on each digit of the foot of a mammal, reptile, or bird.
  • A foot equipped with such.
  • The pincer (chela) of a crustacean or other arthropod.
  • A mechanical device resembling a claw, used for gripping or lifting.
  • (botany) A slender appendage or process, formed like a claw, such as the base of petals of the pink.
    • (Gray)
  • (juggling, uncountable) The act of catching a ball overhand.
    • Derived terms
    * claw hammer * get one's claws into
    External links
    * (wikipedia "claw")

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) clawian, from clawu.

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To scratch or to tear at.
  • * '>citation
    • Using her hands like windshield wipers, she tried to flick snow away from her mouth. When she clawed at her chest and neck, the crumbs maddeningly slid back onto her face. She grew claustrophobic.
  • To use the claws to seize, to grip.
  • To use the claws to climb.
  • (juggling) To perform a catch.
  • To move with one's fingertips.
  • * {{quote-news
    • , year=2011 , date=October 15 , author=Phil McNulty , title=Liverpool 1 - 1 Man Utd , work=BBC Sport citation , page= , passage=De Gea was United's hero again within seconds of Hernandez's equaliser, diving to his left to claw away Dirk Kuyt's shot as he got on the end of a superb cross from Stewart Downing.}}
  • (obsolete) To relieve uneasy feeling, such as an itch, by scratching; hence, to humor or flatter, to court someone.
  • * 1599 ,
    • I cannot hide what I am: I must be sad when I have cause, and smile at no man's jests; eat when I have stomach, and wait for no man's leisure; sleep when I am drowsy, and tend on no man's business; laugh when I am merry, and claw no man in his humour.
  • * Holland
    • Rich men they claw , soothe up, and flatter; the poor they contemn and despise.
  • (obsolete) To rail at; to scold.
  • * T. Fuller
    • In the aforesaid preamble, the king fairly claweth' the great monasteries, wherein, saith he, religion, thanks be to God, is right well kept and observed; though he ' claweth them soon after in another acceptation.