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Webster 1828 Edition

, ppr.

Twining round; catching and holding; embracing; inclosing; shutting or fastening with a clasp.

In botany, surrounding the stem at the base, as a leaf.

clasping

clasping ‎(plural claspings)

The act by which something is clasped.
- Arthur Conan Doyle, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
  Nothing had been said during our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous tension within him.