cling (redirected from clung on)

cling to someone or something 

1. Lit. to hold on tight to someone or something. The child clung tightly to his mother. As she drifted in the sea, she clung to a floating log.

2. Fig. to hold onto the thought or memory of someone or something; to have a strong emotional attachment to or dependence on someone or something. Her immigrant parents clung to the old ways. Harold clung to the memory of his grandmother.

cling together

[for two or more people or animals] to hold on tightly to each other. The two children clung together throughout the ordeal. The baby baboon and its mother clung together and could not be separated.

See also: together

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cling on/hang on by your fingernails

if you are clinging on by your fingernails, you are only just managing to avoid danger or failure (usually in continuous tenses) We're hanging on by our fingernails and hoping that it rains before we lose our entire crop.

cling on/hang on by your fingertips

if you are clinging on by your fingertips, you are only just managing to avoid danger or failure (usually in continuous tenses) We were clinging on by our fingertips, desperately trying to stop them scoring another goal.

See also: fingertip