Part 272

3. To surround and cling to; to entwine about. "Clasping ivy." Milton.

Clasp, n. 1. An adjustable catch, bent plate, or hook, for holding together two objects or the parts of anything, as the ends of a belt, the covers of a book, etc.

2. A close embrace; a throwing of the arms around; a grasping, as with the hand.

Clasp knife, a large knife, the blade of which folds or shuts into the handle. -- Clasp lock, a lock which closes or secures itself by means of a spring.

Clasp"er (?), n. 1. One who, or that which, clasps, as a tendril. "The claspers of vines." Derham.

2. (Zo÷l.) (a) One of a pair of organs used by the male for grasping the female among many of the Crustacea. (b) One of a pair of male copulatory organs, developed on the anterior side of the ventral fins of sharks and other elasmobranchs. See Illust. of ChimŠra.

Clasp"ered (?), a. Furnished with tendrils.

Class (kl&adot;s), n. [F. classe, fr. L. classis class, collection, fleet; akin to Gr. klh^sis a calling, kalei^n to call, E. claim, haul.] 1. A group of individuals ranked together as possessing common characteristics; as, the different classes of society; the educated class; the lower classes.

2. A number of students in a school or college, of the same standing, or pursuing the same studies.

3. A comprehensive division of animate or inanimate objects, grouped together on account of their common characteristics, in any classification in natural science, and subdivided into orders, families, tribes, genera, etc.

4. A set; a kind or description, species or variety.

She had lost one class energies. Macaulay.

5. (Methodist Church) One of the sections into which a church or congregation is divided, and which is under the supervision of a class leader.

Class of a curve (Math.), the kind of a curve as expressed by the number of tangents that can be drawn from any point to the curve. A circle is of the second class. -- Class meeting (Methodist Church), a meeting of a class under the charge of a class leader, for counsel and relegious instruction.

Class (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Classed (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Classing.] [Cf. F. classer. See Class, n.] 1. To arrange in classes; to classify or refer to some class; as, to class words or passages.

&fist; In scientific arrangement, to classify is used instead of to class. Dana.

2. To divide into classes, as students; to form into, or place in, a class or classes.

Class, v. i. To grouped or classed.

The genus or famiky under which it classes. Tatham.

Class"i*ble (?), a. Capable of being classed.

{ Clas"sic (?), Clas"sic*al (?), } a. [L. classicus relating to the classes of the Roman people, and especially to the frist class; hence, of the first rank, superior, from classis class: cf. F. classique. See Class, n.] 1. Of or relating to the first class or rank, especially in literature or art.

Give, as thy last memorial to the age, One classic drama, and reform the stage. Byron.

Mr. Greaves may justly be reckoned a classical author on this subject [Roman weights and coins]. Arbuthnot.

2. Of or pertaining to the ancient Greeks and Romans, esp. to Greek or Roman authors of the highest rank, or of the period when their best literature was produced; of or pertaining to places inhabited by the ancient Greeks and Romans, or rendered famous by their deeds.

Though throned midst Latium's classic plains. Mrs. Hemans.

The epithet classical, as applied to ancient authors, is determined less by the purity of their style than by the period at which they wrote. Brande & C.

He [Atterbury] directed the classical studies of the undergraduates of his college. Macaulay.

3. Conforming to the best authority in literature and art; chaste; pure; refined; as, a classical style.