Forms: 5–6 clipp(e, 6 clyp, 6– clip. [f. CLIP v.1]
† 1. An embrace. Obs.
[1560. Nice Wanton, in Hazl., Dodsley, II. 180. Cards, dice, kiss, clip, and so forth.]
1581. Sidney, Astr. & Stella (1622), 533. Not vsde to frozen clips.
a. 1683. Oldham, Wks. & Rem. (1686), 120.
| If her fond clip | |
| With loose embraces oft his Neck surround, | |
| And Love is yet in debts of Nature drown’d. |
2. That which clips or clasps; an instrument or device which clasps or grips objects tightly and so holds them fast, e.g.
A grappling-iron; an appliance for suspending a pot, that has no bail, by its ears or cleats; in Fishing, a gaff or cleek (Sc.); in Carriages, the embracing-strap that connects the springs and axle; in Farriery, a projecting flange on the upper surface of the toe of a horse-shoe, which clasps the front of the hoof; a spring-holder for letters or papers, etc.
c. 1470. Henry, Wallace, X. 855. Athir [ship] othir festynyt with clippys keyn.
1559. Wills & Inv. N. C. (1835), 183. In the kitchin … three yron crookes … thre paire of yron clippes.
1594. Churchw. Acc. Shrewsbury Abbey, in Miss Jackson, Shropsh. Word-bk. Three clypes of iron for settynge to the newe pylpitt vjd.
1737. in Ramsay, Sc. Prov. (1776), 52 (Jam.). May be your pot may need my clips.
1791–9. Statist. Acc. Moray, VII. 557 (Jam.). Long iron hooks, here called clips, are used for catching the fish.
1801. W. Felton, Carriages, 102. A clip … is placed over the axletree, and secures it in the bed to which it is bolted, and is also used for other purposes.
1831. Youatt, Horse, xxi. 317. Clips are likewise necessary on the shoes of all heavy horses.
1854. J. Hogg, Microsc., I. ii. 36. A spring clip for holding the objects under examination.
1865. J. G. Bertram, Harvest Sea, v. (1873), 114. A landing-clip, or gaff, such as is used in salmon-fishing, is useful.
1881. Miss Jackson, Shropsh. Word-bk., Clip, a clamp of iron perforated at each end … applied as a bandage to a weak or fractured part of an implement.
1888. W. Rye, Records, etc. 13. Clips like music-books with springs at the back … are better than a loose portfolio.
b. Croquet. A marker that may be clasped on a particular hoop to indicate it.
1872. R. Prior, Croquet, 49. Sets … without a cross-bar to the pegs to fix a clip upon.
1874. J. D. Heath, Croquet-Player, 23. The best clips now in use are made with a spring, so that the player has only to release his hold, and the clip, closing, fastens itself on the hoop.
c. transf. and fig.
1676. Grew, Anat. Plants, IV. I. i. § 13. Of every pair of Leaves, the half of one is reciprocally received between the two halfs of another, and may therefore be called the cleep.
1877. G. Saintsbury, in Academy, 10 Feb., 113. The peculiar clip which keeps the characters of a novel together.
3. attrib. and Comb., with the sense ‘that has, or acts as, a clip’; as in clip-drum, -lens, -washer; clip-hook, a hook closing with a clip or spring (cf. CLIPPER, CLEVIS2 b); clip-plate, the axle-hand of a wheel.
1861. Times, 11 July, 7/3. A simple single-cylinder eight-horse engine. This is stationed at one corner of a field, with a *clip drum on a separate pair of carriage wheels placed beside.
1882. Nares, Seamanship (ed. 6), 129. *Clipp hooks for the tack to hook to.
1879. Rutley, Study Rocks, vi. 45. This *clip-lens is, moreover, better than a watch-maker’s eye-glass, because it entails no muscular effort to keep it in place.
1868. Daily Tel., 3 July, 7/6. A 12-inch shell … struck the 15-inch portion of the target … damaging a *clipwasher, and breaking a 21/2-inch bolt.
