From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishclingcling /klɪŋ/ ●●○ verb (past tense and past participle clung /klʌŋ/) [intransitive] 1 [always + adverb/preposition]HOLD to hold someone or something tightly, especially because you do not feel safecling to/on/at etc He wailed and clung to his mother. Passengers clung desperately on to the lifeboats.2 [always + adverb/preposition]STICK to stick to someone or something, or seem to surround themcling to/around etc His wet shirt clung to his body. The smell of cigarette smoke clung to her clothes.3 NEARto stay close to someone all the time because you are too dependent on them or do not feel safe – used to show disapproval Some children tend to cling on their first day at school. → cling on → cling to something→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
cling• She was lying on her side and Hugh was on his side also, clinging to her back, as though for protection.• She flung out her arms to steady herself, clinging to him.• Denial, too, seemed to be an effort to cling to hope.• His pink shirt clinging to the curve of his belly.• A customary error committed by aquarists is to cling to the opinion that the Aponogeton species do not require a rich soil.• Why cling to the rebel cross?cling to/on/at etc• Astrochele is commonly found clinging to gorgonians, corals, etc.• And these possibilities made her cling to her actual existence with pleasure.• I clung to her hand, offering her a mooring line in that churning sea of grief.• I clung to him as if I expected to be pulled away from him.• He clings to his uniform like a second skin.• She further offended doctors by clinging to patently wrong ideas.• His pink shirt clinging to the curve of his belly.• Its founders were clinging to the wreckage, not setting out on a brave new voyage.cling to/around etc• No heart, no soul, nothing to cling to.• A wild urge to cling to him like this for the rest of her life?• Marge clung to Janey and stared at the blank door in horror.• Lucy's sobs stilled a little and she clung to Jay.• Michael held out his arms to her and she shrank away from him, clinging to Roy.• An endless drizzle clung to the air like fog.• We have in prospect eight months of solitude, clinging to the edge of the world's coldest, remotest continent.• They clung to the surface of things.Origin cling Old English clingan 