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To inclose and hold in the hand or with the arms; to grasp; to embrace.

atter. "Hold still thy clatter." Towneley Myst. (15 th Cent. ). Throw by your clatter And handle the matter. B. Jonson

To scrape, scratch, or dig with a claw, or with the hand as a claw. "Clawing [in ash barrels] for bits of coal." W. D. Howells. To claw off (Naut.), to turn to windward and beat, to prevent falling on a lee shore.

A soft earth, which is plastuc, or may be molded with the hands, consisting of hydrous silicate of alumunium. It is the result of the wearing down and decomposition, in part, of rocks containing aluminous minerals, as granite. Lime, magnesia, oxide of iron, and other ingredients, are often present as impurities.…

A large two-handed sword used formerly by the Scottish Highlanders.

Adroit; skillful; dexterous; artful. [Obs.] Through his fine handling and his cleanly play. Spenser.

To stiffen with starch, and then make clear by clapping with the hands; as, to clearstarch muslin.

Well-shaped; handsome. "The girl was a tight, clever wench as any was." Arbuthnot.

it was perilous to enter the vast and intricate maze of countinental politics, was in his hands. Macaulay.

To ascend or mount laboriously, esp. by use of the hands and feet.

A blow or stroke with the hand; as, he hit him a clip. [Colloq. U. S.]

A machine for measuring time, indicating the hour and other divisions by means of hands moving on a dial plate. Its works are moved by a weight or a spring, and it is often so constructed as to tell the hour by the stroke of a hammer on a bell. It is not adapted, like the watch, to be carried on the person.…

Like the motion of the hands of a clock; -- said of that direction of a rotation about an axis, or about a point in a plane, which is ordinarily reckoned negative.

To grapple; to engange in hand-to-hand fight. They boldly closed in a hand-to-hand contest. Prescott. To close on or upon, to come to a mutual agreement; to agree on or join in. "Would induce France and Holland to close upon some measures between them to our disadvantage." Sir W. Temple. -- To close with. (a) To acced…

To shut up in, or as in, a closet; to conceal. [R.] Bedlam's closeted and handcuffed charge. Cowper.

A blow with the hand. [Low] Clout nail, a kind of wrought-iron nail heaving a large flat head; -- used for fastening clouts to axletrees, plowshares, etc., also for studding timber, and for various purposes.

Of or resembling a clown, or characteristic of a clown; ungainly; awkward. "Clownish hands." Spenser. "Clownish mimic." Prior. -- Clown"ish*ly, adv.

A heavy staff of wood, usually tapering, and wielded the hand; a weapon; a cudgel. But make you ready your stiff bats and clubs; Rome and her rats are at the point of battle. Shak.

wanting dexterity, nimbleness, or readiness; stiff; awkward, as if benumbed; unwieldy; unhandy; hence; ill-made, misshapen, or inappropriate; as, a clumsy person; a clumsy workman; clumsy fingers; a clumsy gesture; a clumsy excuse. But thou in clumsy verse, unlicked, unpointed, Hast shamefully defied the Lord's anoint…

The hands, claws, or talons, in the act of grasping firmly; -- often figuratively, for power, rapacity, or cruelty; as, to fall into the clutches of an adversary. I must have . . . little care of myself, if I ever more come near the clutches of such a giant. Bp. Stillingfleet.