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clem

1 American  
[klem] / klɛm /

verb (used with or without object)

British Dialect.
clemmed, clemming

  1. to starve.

Clem 2 American  
[klem] / klɛm /

noun

  1. a male given name, form of Clement.

clem British  
/ klɛm /

verb

  1. dialect (when tr, usually passive) to be hungry or cause to be hungry

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of clem

1530–40; akin to Middle English forclemmed (past participle) pinched with hunger, Old English beclemman to fetter

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.