clasp

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English claspe, also clapse,^[2][3][4] a word whose origin most dictionaries call unknown.^[4][5][6][7] The OED notes that the two forms alternate from the start, with nothing to show which is the older, and that no trace of either is found outside English; the noun is recorded before the verb and was probably its source.^[4] Barnhart and Etymonline take claspe as a metathesis of clapse,^[8][9] and with the Middle English Dictionary and the American Heritage Dictionary they connect it, probably or perhaps, with clyppan (“to embrace, encircle”), the source of clip "to embrace".^{[8][9][2][10][3]} The Middle English Dictionary thinks the word was modelled on haspe, hasp, from hæpse.^[2] The OED doubts the link with clyppan, since embracing fits only the later senses, and compares the endings of hasp and of Middle Dutch gaspe, gespe and Dutch gesp (“clasp, buckle”).^[4][7] Dictionary.com suggests a blend of clippen and haspe,^[11] Klein relates it to clamp,^[12] Partridge takes it as a frequentative of clap,^[13] and Skeat saw an extended form of that base, influenced by clippen.^[14] Weekley thought it probably imitated the sound of the fastening,^[15] and the OED reports Wedgwood's similar idea of the snap of a bracelet.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

A fastening, usually of metal, made of two parts that lock together: about 1325, in the romance Coer de Lyon.^[4] Barnhart dates the noun to 1307,^[16][8] and Etymonline to about 1300.^[9]

Semantic evolution

In Middle English a claspe could be a hasp or holdfast, the clasp of a book's covers, or a clasp or brooch for clothing and armour.^[2] The verb followed in the late 14th century: Chaucer's Prologue to the Canterbury Tales has it in the sense "to fasten with a clasp".^[4][8][9] The OED thinks the senses of holding and embracing grew out of this, perhaps under the influence of clip "to embrace", which clasp has largely replaced, and perhaps of grasp.^[4][15] Holding something closely within encircling parts is recorded from 1447, embracing with both arms from 1549, and clasping another's hand from 1582.^[4] The noun took these senses back: an embrace from 1614, in Ben Jonson, and in Shakespeare's Othello (before 1616).^[4][9] From the late 16th to the early 18th century a clasp was also a tendril of a climbing plant.^[4][7] The military clasp, a silver bar fixed on a medal ribbon to name a battle or campaign, is recorded from 1813.^[4][17] Johnson (1755) defined the noun as a hook to hold anything close, as a book or garment.^[18] In the coal trade of Northumberland and Durham a clasp was the part of a tram that kept the axle in its bearing.^[19]

Timeline

• c. 1325 – a fastening of two interlocking parts.^[4] Barnhart dates the noun to 1307.^[8]
• c. 1405 – verb, to fasten with a clasp, in Chaucer.^[4][8]
• 1447 – to hold closely by closing round.^[4]
• 1454 – a fastening of the covers of a book.^[4]
• 1549 – to embrace with both arms.^[4]
• 1577 – a tendril (obsolete by 1713).^[4]
• 1614 – noun, an embrace.^[4]
• 1813 – a bar on a medal ribbon.^[4]
• 1832 – a grasp or joining of hands.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A fastening such as a catch or hook that holds two things or parts together: the clasp of a purse.^[17][3][4]
2. A firm grasp or embrace: He took her hand in a warm clasp.^[17][4]
3. (military) A bar fixed on a medal ribbon to show a second award or the battle or campaign it was given for.^[17][3][4]
4. A device that fits around a tooth to hold a denture in place.^[3]
5. (obsolete, 1577–1713) A tendril of a climbing plant.^[4][7]

Verb

1. To hold something firmly, especially in the hands or arms: She clasped the letter to her chest.^[17][3][4]
2. To fasten something with a clasp, or to fit it with one.^[17][3][4]
3. To grip someone's hand, or to join one's own hands with the fingers interlaced.^[17][4]

Word family

• handclasp
• clasper
• reclasp
• unclasp

Related words

• enclasp
• clip
• hasp
• clamp
• clap
• grasp

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
9. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
11. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
12. ^ Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
13. ^ Partridge, Eric (1966), Origins: A Short Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, 4th ed., London: Routledge & Kegan Paul
14. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
15. ^ a b Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
16. ^ Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
17. ^ a b c d e f g Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
18. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
19. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)