cling

«cling» in Mova's school dictionary: to hold on to it very tightly — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 1 sentence of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

verb (cling, clings, clung, clinging)

meaning for a pupil

1) To cling to something is to hold on to it very tightly. tree →

2) To cling means to stick closely to something or someone (wet clothes cling to your body). tree →

3) To cling to an idea or hope is to keep believing it even when it is hard. tree →

sense in the lessons

In stories a frightened child clings to a parent, a climber clings to a rock, a survivor clings to a log in the sea. In science, things that cling stick to a surface, like cling film or a static balloon on a wall. Phrases: cling to, cling on, cling together, cling film.

examples

• The baby monkey clung to its mother's back. tree →
• The cat clung to the branch with its claws. tree →
• My wet T-shirt clung to me after the rain. tree →
• Hold on and cling to the rope! tree →
• The little boy clung to his dad on the first day of school. tree →
• She clung to the hope that her lost dog would come home. tree →
• We covered the bowl with cling film. tree →
• A sock was clinging to my jumper when it came out of the dryer. tree →
• She could see the men clinging to the masts. tree →

note

Irregular verb: cling, clung, clung (not «clinged»). Usually followed by «to» or «on» (cling to the rope). «Clingy» describes someone who wants to be with you all the time. «Cling film» (UK) = «plastic wrap» (USA).

In the corpora

• Burns are cooled under cool running water for 20 minutes, then covered loosely with cling film or a clean dressing.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «cling» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.