clampy

English

Etymology

From clamp +‎ -y.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /klæmpi/

Adjective

clampy (comparative more clampy, superlative most clampy)

1. Resembling a clamp; clamp-like.
   • 2010, Susan Blackaby Nest, Nook & Cranny, [1]:

     The hermit crab must somehow sqeeze, His clampy claws and knobby knees

   • 2013, Laura Morrigan, Woof at the Door, [2]:

     She held up the little metal clampy thing and squeezed the ends together.

   • 2013, Eliza Gordon, Must Love Otters, [3]:

     The coffee table is a cluttered smorgasbord of medical shit - tubes and tapes and bags and scissors and clampy things.

2. unwieldy, clumsy, hard to wield or control (of hands).

   His hands grew clampy with cold.

   • 2005, Emmanuel Acheta, Duel With a Dictator. An African Woman's Political Struggle, [4]ː

     Her hands were clampy, speech unsure and eyes half-closed.

   • 2010, Lewis A. Walmsley, Glassidor, [5]:

     The reptiles roared, throwing their heads back in exultation, and threw away their useless weapons, which they could no longer hold efficiently with their clampy hands.

Anagrams

• camply