clasp

noun

1. (countable)A device with interlocking parts used for fastening things together, such as a fastener or a holder.

   “I always have a hard time working the clasp on this necklace!”

2. (countable)A bar or insignia on a medal ribbon, to either indicate an additional award of the medal, or the action or service for which it was awarded.
3. (uncountable)An embrace, a grasp, or handshake.

   “He took her hand in a firm clasp.”

   “How few! yet how they creep / Through my fingers to the deep, / While I weep—while I weep! / O God! can I not grasp / Them with a tighter clasp?”

verb

1. (transitive)To take hold of; to grasp.

   “They clasped hands and parted as friends.”

   “And when the Boy dropped off to sleep, the Rabbit would snuggle down close under his little warm chin and dream, with the Boy's hands clasped close round him all night long.”

   “The poor dear lady shivered, and I could see the tension of her nerves as she clasped her husband closer to her and bent her head lower and lower still on his breast.”

2. (transitive)To shut or fasten together with, or as if with, a clasp.
3. (intransitive, obsolete, rare)To cling.